
Class 
Book. 



LoL.iri£itt. , .^XSl^b-^K^yiyJL. M£ 




MEMOIRS 
of 

COUTTT LAYALLSTTE 



■ ! . 



Preface to the first American Edition. 



The highly interesting Memoirs of Lavallelte which 
are contained in the following pages, will be found to 
equal, if they do not surpass, most of the numerous 
books of the same description which the events of the 
French Revolutions have elicited. Count Lavallette 
commences his auto-biography at a very early age. We 
have not thought it necessary to follow him through 
the period of his infancy and youth, but have adopted 
the following brief summary, which contains all that 
would interest the American reader previous to Au- 
gust, 1794. 

Marie Chamans Lavallette was born at Paris in 1769, 
of respectable parents, and at 19 years of age resolved 
to enter the church ; but, disgusted by a year's attend- 
ance upon theological lectures, he obtained his father's 
permission to devote himself to the bar. The studies 
proper to a notary's office, however, proved still less at- 
tractive than those followed in the Sorbonne ; and 
while his companions were toiling through Justinian, 
the National Codes, the Parliamentary Decrees, and the 
Royal Statutes, young Lavallette obtained the run of his 
master's miscellaneous library, and amused himself with 
French history, Montesquieu, and political pamphlets. 
Some tumults in the Fauxboijrg St. Antoine, during 
the first outbreak of the Revolution, suppressed by mi- 
litary force, and accompanied with the customary pro- 
portion of shootings at the moment, and hangings after- 
wards, did not impress him with great respect for the 



IV 

existing government ; but the ferocious acts committed 
by the populace on the 14th of July, after the destruc- 
tion of the Bastile, acted as a seasonable preventive of 
revolutionary contagion. He never could explain the 
murder of Messrs. Foulan and Berthier de Savigny, 
who were butchered under circumstances of atrocious 
barbarity on that memorable day. He went home " to 
read Montesquieu," and became a royalist. Obtaining 
the patronage of M. D'Ormesson, one of the presidents 
of the parliament, his disgust strengthened, and with 
it his zeal for the royal family. He held a post at the 
Tuileries, at the attack on the palace, on the lOth of Au- 
gust; but after the massacres at the commencement of 
the following month, he saw that there was no safety 
but in flight. He then enlisted, was in six weeks a cor- 
poral, and soon advanced to a second-lieutenancy in the 
93d regiment, forming part of the Army of the Rhine. 
He served with great distinction during the whole cam- 
paign, and it is at the period of his return to Paris 
from this service that the following Memoir from his 
own pen commences. 

The details of Count Lavallette's imprisonment and 
remarkable escape, will be found graphically detailed by 
himself; he relates in a few sentences the effect which 
was produced on the mind of his wife by her heroic de- 
votion in saving his life — but we cannot refrain from 
inserting the annexed extract, translated from the " Re- 
vue de Paris," Vol. XII., No. 1., 7th March 1830, which 
contains a brief account of his eventful life. It was 
published a few days after his death. 

" In 1822, letters of pardon, granted by Louis XVIII. 
restored him to his native country. M. Lavallette thus 
hoped to enjoy still some happy days ; but when he ar- 
rived in Paris, in the midst of the congratulations which 
poured in upon him on all sides, oxie voice remained si- 
lent, and that was his wife's ! From that decisive hour, 
when, with overpowering energy, she had arranged his 



escape, and remained an hostage in his place, she had 
not seen him. And now she looked upon him without 
emotion and without tears. She knew him not. The 
unfortunate lady had spent all her reason in saving him ! 
This last trial surpassed all the rest. M. Lavallette was 
overwhelmed by it. He wrote to the king : — ' Your 
majesty has restored to me possessions I valued more 
than life, but all your royal favour can never counter- 
balance my misfortune.' 

*' His unfortunate situation pointed out to him the 
path he ought to follow. He gave up the world, and 
devoted himself to complete solitude, w^hich he only 
once left, to go to London in 1826, and support Sir Pto- 
bert Wilson's election. His life was one continued 
scene of devotion. He repaid his wife with daily care 
and by pious and delicate attentions, ahnost as great 
as he had received from her, and when death overtook 
him, he expired tranquilly, for he left no debt behind 
him." 



1* 



TO THE READER. 



I nevershould have determined to record, in writing, 
the events which have passed before my eyes, nor even 
those in which I have acted a part during eight and 
twenty years, had I not been involved in so conspicu- 
ous a manner in the catastrophe that put an end to the 
Imperial Government; but I thought it my duty to 
leave both to my family and my friends an indisputable 
testimony of my innocence and general conduct. It 
would, moreover, be but ill requiting the interest with 
which so many honourable persons have favoured me, 
to maintain a silence which my enemies might misuse 
to justify their persecutions. 

My first intention was to describe only late events ; 
but having been for above twenty years attached to the 
Emperor Napoleon, it appeared to me that I ought not 
to pass over in silence one part, at least, of his glorious 
history. Could I look upon myself at liberty to deprive 
posterity of any circumstances connected with a hero 
who will never cease to engross attention? He has 
been exposed to the insults of his ungrateful contempo- 
raries, and it is my duty to oppose truth to those insults. 
No exertion has been wanting on my side to avoid be- 
ing led away by the deep affection I shall cherish to 
the end of my life for a man who has been my general, 
my sovereign, and my benefactor. It is not, however, 
his public actions, and still less the wars which have shed 
a lustre over his life, that I pretend to describe. He 
has still friends left among the generals who shared his 
toil and his glory : to them the noble task belongs. I 
shall paint the private man. Few persons have known 
him as well as I have ; and historians, gathering mate- 
rials, may place full confidence in my recital. I shall 
mention no other facts than those of which I have been 
an eye-witness ; and I am much mistaken if my cha- 
racter will not prove a sufficient voucher for their truth. 
Still, I require much indulgence. I write far from my 



Vlll 

country,* in deep solitude, often depressed by misfor- 
tune, and deprived of the materials requisite for recall- 
ing facts, dates, and names. The impressions are, how- 
ever, still vivid in my memory and in my heart- 
Many persons seeing my name on the title page of 
these Memoirs will perhaps expect to find in them 
an abundant feast of anecdote and scandal : they will 
be mistaken. During thirteen years I filled a delicate 
situation, thanks to which, I have discovered some 
painful secrets of the human heart; but I will not dis- 
grace my character by publishing them. It is not with 
rubbish that durable monuments can be raised. 

It is my resolution that this work do not appear dur- 
ing my life ; not that I wish to escape criticism, but 
because a feeling,which honourable minds alone can ap- 
preciate, makes it a duty in me to occupy the public at- 
tention no longer with myself. My unfortunate cele- 
brity has been dearly bought, and I now want rest ra- 
ther than pity. 

* A great part of these Memoirs was written in Bavaria, during 
M. Lavallette's banishment, in liis various retreats on the borders 
of Lake Starenberg, at Lichstadt, and at Augsburg. It will, how- 
ever, be observed, in reading the conclusion, that they were revised 
and finished at Paris, or rather in the country near Sevres.— (JVote 
of the Editor.) 



MEMOIRS 



OF 



itount %ni>ulltttt. 



CHAPTER I. 

I arrived in Paris towards the middle of August, 1794. 
Wlien I left that city in 1792, the people, freed from the 
wholesome restraint of the laws, intoxicated with fury, 
and elated with their abominable triumphs, were madly 
enjoying a savage licentiousness, and, ever threatening, 
ever oppressive, set no bounds to their tyranny. What 
a change did I not find after the short space of three 
years ! Scarcity was terrible, misery at the highest pitch, 
and the dethroned sovereign scarcely dared to complain. 
The people were no better than a vile rabble, devoid of 
. energy, shrinking under the rod that chastised them, 
but having not even the thought of resistance. In the 
morning the city presented a deplorable spectacle : thou- 
sands of women and children were sitting on the stones 
before the doors of the bakers' shops, waiting their turn 
for receiving a dearly bought bit of bread. More than 
one-half of Paris lived on potatoes. Paper money was 
without value, and bullion without circulation : this last- 
ed nearly a year. A still stranger sight struck the ob- 
server's eyes. The unfortunate prisoners had recover- 
ed their liberty, and having escaped almost certain death, 
they enjoyed their good luck with a sort of ecstasy. The 
dangers to which they had been so long exposed excited 
a lively interest in their favour ; but vanity, so inge- 
nious in France, discovered the means of turning their 
situation to advantage. Each person pretended to have 



10 MEMOIRS or 

suffered more than his neighbour ; and as it was the 
fashion to have been persecuted, a great many people 
who had remained safe in their hiding-places, or had 
bought their security by base concessions, boasted of 
having languished in prison. An immense number of 
innocent persons had, in fact, perished on the scaffold ; 
but if credit could have been given to the accounts pro- 
pagated by hatred and vanity, one might have thought 
that one-half of Paris had imprisoned or butchered the 
other half. Confusion was at this period at its highest 
pitch in society : all distinctions of rank had disappear- 
ed ; wealth had changed possessors ; and as it was still 
dangerous to boast of birth, and to recall the memory of 
former gentility, the possessors ofnewly-acquired wealth 
led the ton, and added the absurdities of a bad educa- 
tion to those of patronage devoid of dignity. The class 
of artists, more commendable, acquired consideration 
through the general thirst for amusement, and through 
the necessity many persons were in of seeking a liveli- 
hood in the arts of imagination. This same taste for 
the fine arts, so universally diffused, caused in the fa- 
shions, and even in the morals of the metropolis, a most 
inconceivable licentiousness : the young men dressed 
their hair en victimes — that is to say, raised up at the 
back of the neck as if they were going to suffer on the 
scaffold. The women, on the contrary, imitated in their 
dresses the costume of Ancient Greece. It is scarcely 
credible, to those who have not seen it, that young fe- 
males, well-bred, and distinguished by their birth, should 
have worn tight skin-coloured pantaloons, sandals on 
their feet, and transparent gauze dresses, while their 
bosoms were exposed, and their arms bare up to their 
shoulders ; and that when they appeared thus in pub- 
lic places, instead of making modesty blush, they became 
objects of universal admiration and applause. The pa- 
laces and private gardens were changed into scenes of 
riotous pleasure, called Elysium, Paphos, Tivoli, Idalia, 
&c., where crowds of people, boisterous diversions, bad 
manners, and an utter contempt for decency, created 
both shame and disgust. 

Between the two extremes of the inhabitants of the 
Faubourg St. Marceau and the Chaussee d'Antin, were 
still to be met with the estimable citizens, and those nu- 
merous well-informed men, friends to their country and 
to freedom, whose indignation, hitherto suppressed by 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 11 

terror, blazed up with an energy that at last brought on 
the catastrophe of the 13th of Vendemiaire. 

A commission of public safety was appointed, to 
whom very extensive powers were given. Barras was a 
man of resolution, and had greatly contributed to the fall 
of Robespierre on the 9th of Thermidor. Having been 
a commissioner of the Convention with the Southern 
army, in 1793, he had remarked a young officer of ar- 
tillerry, whose courage and advice had a great influence 
on the retaking of Toulon. This young man, who, after 
the 9th of Thermidor, had been dismissed by one of his 
former comrades called Aubry, a member of the Con- 
vention, had come to Paris a few months before, where 
he was soliciting without success his restoration to his 
rank of general of brigade. Vexation and disgust had, 
it was said, made him at last seek permission to go at 
the head of a troop of cannoniers, to serve among the 
Turks, to teach them the manoeuvres of artillery. He 
was ready to set off when Barras sent for him, and pre- 
sented him to the Committee, who consulted him on the 
difficulty, which they were resolved to get out of at any 
price. The members of the Committee agreed with one 
another on one point only ; that is to say, that all was 
lost if the sections gained the victory. Civil war would 
then extend its ravages all over France, and nobody 
could calculate its consequences. On the other hand, 
they could not bring themselves to fire upon the people. 
Some wanted to make concessions which would have de- 
stroyed all hopes of redress ; others spoke of stoically 
awaiting death in their chairs like true Romans. The 
artillery officer laughed both at their scruples and ridi- 
culous resolution : he demonstrated to them that the 
Parisians were nothing but fools, led on by cunning 
rogues ; that Government had in its favour power and 
right ; that nothing was easier than to disperse, with- 
out spilling much blood, inexperienced battalions, which 
had neither clever leaders nor artillery. His firmness, 
his eloquence, his consciousness of great superiority, 
which his countenance itself betrayed, inspired confi- 
dence and carried persuasion into the minds of every 
one. This young man's name was Bonaparte. The 
command of the artillery was given to him, and he was 
left master of all the arrangements for the defence. He 
immediately assembled the officers, and made himself 
sure of their obedience. He then placed two cannons at 



12 MEMOIRS OF 

the entrance of the Rue St. Nicaise, another facing the 
church of St. Roche at the bottom of the Petite Rue du 
Dauphin, two more in the Rue St. Honore, near the 
Place Vendome, and two facing- the Pont Royal on the 
Quai Voltaire. Reserves of infantry were stationed be- 
hind the cannon, in order to protect them, and on the 
Place du Carrousel. The cavalry was posted in the 
Place Louis XV. He afterwards acquainted the bat- 
talions that they were at liberty to remain where they 
were as long as they chose ; but that if they went one 
step beyond the prescribed limits, or if they fired a 
single musket, he would repel them with his artillery. 
His firmness, instead of inspiring awe, convinced the 
enemy that he was afraid, and would not dare to fire. 
After a good deal of hesitation, the enemy's troops put 
themselves in motion, those who were behind pushing 
on those who were in front, and a discharge of musketry 
was the signal of the attack. At the same instant the 
grape shot of the three field-pieces carried death and ter- 
ror into their ranks. Their flight was so rapid, so abrupt, 
and so complete, that a bullet shot off along the Rue St. 
Honore did not touch a single person. General Car- 
teaux had been placed on the Pont Neuf with a bat- 
talion of infantry of the line, in order to cut off the 
communication between the two banks of the Seine. 1 
was sent to carry him an order to stand firm ; but he 
had already retired under the garden of the Infante, and 
the columns of the sections appeared already on the 
Quai de la Monnaye, with a view to make themselves 
masters of the Pont Royal, and attack the Tuileries from 
that side. The general who commanded at the foot of 
the bridge sent them word not to advance any farther. 
They took no heed of it, and received the discharge of 
the two cannons, after which they dispersed. That was 
enough to make the citizens tired of fighting ; but the 
most determined among them, whose fear had subsided 
when they imagined the danger distant,wanted to resume 
the attack. They had made themselves masters of the Pa- 
lais Royal, and, like madmen, fancied they should be 
able to defend themselves there. Luckily night brings 
counsel : in the morning the leaders put themselves in 
safety, and the rest went home. Peace was signed next 
day, and order was re-established. I do not think that 
the regular troops lost more than four or five men. On 
the part of the sections the loss was more considerable. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 13 

By the most exact calculation, it seems to have amount- 
ed to forty killed, and about two hundred wounded. 
This will not appear exaggerated if we consider that the 
steps of the church of St. Roch were covered with people; 
that the cannon fired in that direction was at no more 
than sixty paces distance, and that the battalion of the 
Rue St. Honore filled the whole space to a great depth. 
The command of the Parisian army was entrusted to 
General Danican, a man almost imknown even in the 
ranks, where he had served for some time, and whom the 
restoration did not bring into distinction. 

Government felt that a too severe inquiry on this af- 
fair would only contribute to exasperate the minds of the 
public, and that they ought to enjoy with moderation a 
victory which had been bought at the price of so much 
blood. A court martial was nevertheless instituted, with 
a view to frighten the leaders ; but they were all acquit- 
ted, with the exception of one unfortunate emigrant, 
named Lafont, who had got secretly into Paris in order 
to intrigue in favour of his employers, and who had 
made himself conspicuous by a very violent behaviour. 
He was sentenced to death ; but even he would have been 
saved, if his intense devotion to the cause of the Bour- 
bons had not made him reject all the means he might 
have used to avoid his condemnation. 

The royalists have pretended of late years, that this 
insurrection of the Parisians was a generous effort at- 
tempted in favour of the Bourbons. I declare that this 
is not the fact. I was placed in the most favourable po- 
sition for observing the passions and intrigues which 
brought about the unfortunate catastrophe of the iSthof 
Vendemiaire. I was acquainted with several honoura- 
ble men who had taken part with the sections, and I saw 
neither in the people, nor in their leaders, any wish for 
the return of the Bourbons, much less a plan for recall- 
ing them. The death of the king was deplored by all 
sensible men; but liberty was beloved. Hatred of the 
Convention was carried to the highest pitch, on account 
of the horrors with which that assembly had visited the 
country. I questioned the most violent as to what they 
wished to establish in the place of the expiring govern- 
ment. Their answer was, " We will have nothing more 
to do with them. It is the Republic we wish for, with 
honest men to govern us." No one went farther than 
this. It is true, that some insinuations were made in 



14 MEMOIRS OF 

the sections, in favour of the royal family; but so fee- 
ble, so ambiguous, that very little attention was paid to 
them. No one thought of pronouncing the name of that 
family. I have no doubt that, if the sections had tri- 
umphed, the attempt would have been more direct, and 
more bold ; perhaps even it would have succeeded, but 
then civil war would have broken out on all sides. And 
if, eighteen years after, with the aid of all Europe, the 
Bourbons were unable to maintain themselves on the 
throne, what would have been their fate at a period when 
France, not yet accustomed to the yoke, was animated 
by republican habits and ideas, and uncurbed energy ? 

Two days after the 13th of Vendemiaire, Barras in- 
troduced to the Convention all the generals and officers 
of the staff who had contributed to save that Assembly, 
General Bonaparte was there, but he mingled witli the 
crowd. When Barras, in his speech, pronounced his 
name with compliment, those who surrounded him want- 
ed to make him advance to the first rank. He pushed 
them aside with a look of ill-humour and diffidence which 
pleased me. There was in his actions less of pride than 
a delicate feeling of propriety. He was ashamed to be 
praised for such a victory. Besides, it is certain he felt 
no great esteem for those in whose favour he had fought, 
and who were thus lavishing their applause on him. 

The Convention hastened to put an end to its stormy 
session, so fatal to humanity, but still so memorable from 
the incrediblg vigour with which it saved France from 
a foreign yoke. The ruins of government were deliver- 
ed into the hands of the Directory. General Bonaparte 
was made commander-in-chief of the first military divi- 
sion, and of the city of Paris. One of the first measures 
that were taken by the new government was, the dis- 
arming of all the citizens of the metropolis. They deli- 
vered up their arms without much regret : the trial they 
had just made of their strength was not of a nature to in- 
spire them with great confidence in themselves. This 
measure was executed with great rigour. Swords and 
sabres were comprehended in the general confiscation. 
The widow of General Beauharnais was going to deliver 
up to one of the commissioners entrusted with these or- 
ders the sabre of her late husband, when her son Eugene, 
then scarcely thirteen years old, seized the weapon, and 
declared that they who wished to have it must first take 
his life. The commissioner consented to leave it hira, 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 15 

provided he got a permission from the general-in-chief. 
Eugene flew to his house : the deep emotion the child 
evinced, his name, his interesting appearance, the ardour 
and simpHcity with which he expressed his wishes, touch- 
ed the general. He embraced him, allowed him to keep 
the dearly-beloved sword, and visited Madame de Beau- 
harnais. She was young, amiable, and more than pret- 
ty. He fell in love with her, and soon after married 
her : so that their union, which was so long a happy 
one, had its origin in an amiable trait of filial piety. 

When General Beauharnais left the army of the Rhine, 
he had retired to one of his estates, situated a few leagues 
from Blois. There he lived in profound retirement, la- 
menting the deplorable outrages that disgraced liberty, 
and bitterly regretting the glory he could no longer share. 
But his name had been too celebrated for him to enter- 
tain a reasonable hope of escaping the persecutions to 
which the members of the Constituent Assembly were 
exposed. He was arrested, and thrown into the prisons 
of Paris, shortly before the 9th of Thermidor, and at a 
time when the people were at last returning to right feel- 
ing, and beginning to shudder at the sight of the blood 
with which they had long feasted their eyes. The Jaco- 
bins invented the prison conspiracies, as a pretence for 
prolonging their measures. They had mixed with the 
prisoners some spies, who found men vile enough to pur- 
chase their lives by atrocious calumny. One of these 
wretches, enraged at having been discovered by M. de 
Beauharnais in the midst of his infamous intrigues, and 
at hearing him speak openly of the fact with all the ho- 
nourable pride of an upright man, denounced him. He 
was sent to the scaffold, and suffered on the 7th of Ther- 
midor, two days before the fall of Robespierre. 

Madame de Beauharnais had been locked up, during 
eighteen months, in one of the prisons of Paris, where 
she had fallen seriously ill, when her indictment, which 
was no better than a sentence of death, was transmitted 
to her. Fortunately a Polish physician, an honest and 
courageous man, whose name I am sorry I do not know, 
attended her. He declared that she would not survive 
eight days longer, and by that means saved her life. 
When she got out of prison, she exerted with resolute 
benevolence ail the advantages which her name, her mis- 
fortune, and the gifts of her amiable mind, conferred on 
her to obtain the liberty of the greatest part of her for- 



16 MEMOIRS OF, 

mer companions in captivity. She was beloved and es- 
teemed by the most respectable members of society. The 
excellent quahties of her heart made her fully vs^orthy of 
her exalted station. I shall more than once recur with 
pleasure to her in the course of these memoirs. , 

The functions of commander-in-chief of the city of 
Paris gave considerable influence to General Bonaparte, 
and his conduct on the 13th Vendemiaire ensured him a 
just title to the confidence of the Directory ; but Govern- 
ment soon felt itself troubled and even humbled by the 
authority of the young general. To say the truth, he 
continually acted after his own way, meddled with eve- 
ry thing, decided on every thing, and never acted but 
upon his own ideas. The activity and extent of his mind, 
and the pride of his nature, rendered him unable to obey 
in any circumstances. The Directory wished still to 
spare the Jacobins ; the general locked up their assem- 
bly-room, and Government leafnt the step he had taken 
just when they were going to deliberate upon it. Some 
members of the old nobility seemed dangerous in Paris. 
The Directory resolved to send them away ; the general 
extended to them his protection, and Government was 
forced to yield. He prescribed measures, recalled dis- 
graced generals, repelled with pride all prepossession, 
wounded the vanity of every body, laughed at prejudices, 
braved hatred, and condemned the slow and embarrass- 
ed pace of Government. If the Directory happened to 
remonstrate with him, instead of appearing offended, 
he developed his ideas and plans with so much clear- 
ness, care, and eloquence, that no objection was possi- 
ble, and two hours afterwards all he proposed was exe- 
cuted. But if the Directory was tired of Bonaparte- 
the general was no less so of Paris life, which afforded 
no career to his ambition, no field for his genius. He 
had, a long time before, formed a plan for the conquest 
of Italy. Long service in the army of Nice had pro- 
cured him the necessary leisure to mature his designs, 
to calculate all their difficulties, and guess all their 
chances. He solicited of Government the command of 
that army with money and troops. He was made gene- 
ral-in-chief : he got troops, but only the small sum of 
one hundred thousand crowns. With those scanty 
means he was to conquer Italy at the head of troops, 
who had received no pay for the last six months, and 
who had not even shoes to their feet. But Bonaparte 



CODNT LAVALLETTE. 17 

felt the consciousness of his strength ; and, looking for- 
ward with deUght to the future, he took leave of the 
Directory, who saw his departure with secret pleasure, 
happy to be rid of a man whose character awed them, 
and whose projects were, in the eyes of the majority of 
its members, nothing more than the wild fancies of a 
youth full of pride and presumption. 

Neither General d'Hilliers nor myself waited for the 
pacification to solicit of General Bonaparte the honour 
of serving under his orders. The letters of appoint- 
ment soon arrived. M. d'Hilliers set off post for Italy, 
I was obliged to travel on horseback. The name of 
Bonaparte greeted my ears in everyplace through which 
I passed. Each day brought the account of some new 
victory. His letters to Government, — his proclama- 
tions, so elevated in style, and so wonderfully eloquent, 
roused all minds. All France shared the enthusiasm of 
the army for so much glory, — for such brilliant and nu- 
merous triumphs. 

CHAPTER n. 

When I arrived at Milan the victory of Castiglione 
had just been gained. General Wurmser, beaten, was 
flying in the direction of Mantua ; and after having 
come to force us to raise the siege of that city, he was 
himself obliged to seek a refuge within its walls. I was 
convinced that General d'Hilliers was to be employed 
in military service, and during the journey I indulged 
in glittering dreams of glory and advancement. How 
great was now my consternation when I found him go- 
vernor of Lombardy ! I was going to be buried again in 
the paper business of a staff, sentenced to distribute the 
bulletins of our victories, — to be busy about the thou- 
sand minutige of an office, so tiresome to a soldier, — and 
at last not even dare to acknowledge that I had been in 
the army of Italy, of which I should share neither the 
perils nor the triumphs. Besides, my sword was my 
only fortune, and could I hope for advancement when I 
had not deserved any ? These thoughts grieved me sore- 
ly, and made me adopt the resolution of soliciting the 
command of a troop of infantry in a brigade of the van- 
guard. General d'Hilliers attempted in vain to make 
me alter my mind. Forced at last to yield to my en- 
treaties, he was about to give me my orders, when the 
intelligence of the victory of Areola arrived at Milan. 
2* 



18 MEMOIRS OF 

Two aides-de-camp of the general-in-chief had been 
killed, — Muiron, an officer of artillery, for whom he en- 
tertained a great regard, of which his good qualities 
made him worthy, — and young Elliott, a nephew of Ge- 
neral Clarke. M. d'Hilliers spoke of me to General 
Bonaparte with great warmth, and got me appointed to 
succeed Muiron. My first sensation was joy at this un- 
expected favour of fortune, but it was soon troubled by 
the fear of being severely judged by one so well able to 
scan my merits. My uneasiness was such as to make me 
regret the success General d'HiUiers had obtained. I 
went to the general-in-chief, who lodged in the Palazzo 
Serbelloni. He was giving audience. His saloon was 
filled with military men of all ranks, and high civil of- 
ficers. His air was affable, but his look so firm and fixed, 
that I turned pale when he addressed himself to me. I 
faltered out my name, and afterwards my thanks, to 
which he listened in silence, his eyes fastening on me 
with an expression of severity that quite disconcerted me. 
At last he said, " Come back at six o'clock, and put on the 
sash." That sash, which distinguished the aides-de- 
camp of the general-in-chief, was of white and red silk, 
and was worn round the left arm. 

When I went back to the palace at the appointed 
hour, the officer on duty introduced me into the saloon 
of the aides-de-camp. This was a new subject of per- 
plexity. I was not acquainted with any of them. They 
could see by ray sash that I was a new comrade, but not 
one came up to me. They communicated their obser- 
vations to one another, directing towards my person 
looks that did not seem to me very favourable, until 
Marmont came in, and perceiving me, took me by the 
hand, and said, " Here is a new comrade, who will soon 
be a friend." — " In the field of battle," I answered with 
a blush, " I shall be less embarrassed than I am here." A 
few days were sufficient to establish between us a degree 
of friendship that has never diminished. The aides-de- 
camp of the general-in-chief were at that time eight in 
number. Murat, who had been named general of bri- 
gade, was no longer one of them. The first was Colonel 
Junot, afterwards Due d'Abrantes. 

The general-in-chief arrived at seven o'clock, and we 
sat down to converse. He placed me next to himself. 
All the guests were as much surprised as I was at this 
extraordinary favour ; but I did not remain long in sus- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 19 

pense as to the cause to which it was owing. The ge- 
neral wished to know what he had to expect of the new 
acquaintance he had rashly made. His questions began 
with the very first course, and lasted till we rose from 
table ; that is to say, during- three-quarters of an hour. 
" Where have you served ? In what army ? At what 
time did you enter on service? Under what generals 
have you fought? What was the strength of the Rhine 
army ? What position did it occupy before Mentz ? Why 
did they not go to the assistance of that city ? How 
were the lines of the Lauter lost? How was Landau de- 
livered ? What generals had the highest reputation in 
the Rhine army ? What were the forces of the enemy 
on the 13th of October, and when the lines were re- 
taken ?" He listened attentively to all my answers, and 
shortened them when they were too diffuse. I perceiv- 
ed, by his pithy observations, that he was perfectly 
well acquainted with the history of the Rhine army. The 
distance and position of the different places, the abilities 
of the generals, their systems and faults, — all were fa- 
miliar to him. When dinner was over he ceased to 
speak to me. I was afraid he was dissatisfied with my 
answers. I was comforted, however, by the thought that 
the ordeal of the field of battle would be more favourable 
to me. 

We remained a fortnight at Milan, waiting for the 
enemy to come once more down from Tyrol, and make a 
fresh attempt on Mantua. The general-in-chief was at 
that time just married. Madame Bonaparte was a 
charming woman; and all the anxiety of the com- 
mand, — all the trouble of the government of Italy, 
could not prevent her husband from giving himself 
wholly up to the happiness he enjoyed at home. It was 
during that short residence at Milan that the young 
painter Gros, afterwards so celebrated, painted the pic- 
ture of the general. He represented him on the bridge 
of Lodi, at the moment when, with the colours in his 
hand, he rushed forward, to induce the troops to follow 
him. The painter could never obtain a long sitting. 
Madame Bonaparte used to take her husband upon her 
lap after breakfast, and hold him fast for a few minutes. 
I was present at three of these sittings. The age of the 
newly married couple, and the painter's enthusiasm for 
the hero, were sufficient excuses for such familiarity. 
The portrait was at the time a striking resemblance. 



20 MEMOIES OF 

Some copies have been taken of it ; but the original is in 
the possession of the Queen of Holland, Duchess of St. 
Leu. 

We set off for Verona. The day after our arrival I 
received an order to reconnoitre the enemy posted on the 
banks of the Adige, facing Roveredo. My instructions 
were to force him to make some demonstrations, but 
not to come to an action. I was to bring back an exact 
account of all the points the enemy occupied in the val- 
ley, with particulars, which, by the by, the general was 
very fond of, on the respective positions of the two van- 
guards. Some troops were put at my disposal, and I 
learned some days after, that a secret order had been 
given to one of the generals of the vanguard, to follow 
me in all my movements, and rectify my blunders. This 
commission was not very important. The manner in 
which I acquitted myself of it was not very bad ; and if 
the general bestowed no praises either on my behaviour 
or on my report, at least I received no reproaches. 

The enemy soon returned in force. General Bona- 
parte had foreseen on which side he was to be attacked, 
the chief^m of the Austrians being naturally the de- 
liverance of Mantua. He had in consequence placed the 
mass of his army along the Adige, at Rivoli and La Co- 
rona. He knew that the Archduke Charles was intent 
on taking Kehl, and that that small fortress, less formi- 
dable still by the strength of its walls, than by the de- 
termination of General Desaix, who defended it, would 
cost the prince a great many men and much time. The 
diversion the enemy made on Porto Legnago and St. 
Georgo was of no use ; they were beaten at Rivoli by the 
division of Messina, under the command of General Bo- 
naparte. The consequences of this battle were beyond all 
calculation for the army of Italy. Tyrol was open to us ; 
Mantua surrendered, and the general-in-chief found time 
to explain himself with the Pope at Tolentino. I was 
ordered to accompany Joubert to Trente, of which he 
made himself master five days after he had begun the 
attack. 

While the Austrians were making so unlucky an effort 
to deliver Mantua and drive the French out of Italy, 
the Pope, exeited by them, and discontented with the 
loss of the three Legations, hastily raised some troops, 
and resolved to take a part in the formidable contest. 
The time when the pontiffs used to influence so power 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 21 

fully the doctrines of Italy was long- past : Pius the 
Sixth, a stately pontiff, possessed none of the dangerous 
qualities of Julius the Second. The general-in-chief 
marched against him with a single division. His aide- 
de-camp, Junot, was ordered to oppose this new enemy. 
He fell in with him near Faenza. A few cannon shots 
were exchang-ed ; but all the troops he found laid down 
their arms with so much docility, that the Pope sent in 
haste three cardinals to sig-n a treaty, which caused him 
long- to repent his imprudent attack. 

By this treaty the cession of the three Legations was 
confirmed, while the Pope was oblig'cd to pay fifteen 
millions for his perilous enterprise, and deliver up the 
most precious master-pieces of antiquity which adorned 
his capital and provinces. This episode of the war was 
very short. The Archduke Charles, having at last 
made himself master of Kehl, was marching to us in 

great haste to help General to deliver Mantua 

and the Holy Father. He arrived too late : the town 
had opened its gates, and the Pope delivered up his 
treasures. 

In France, every body was desirous of serving under 
General Bonaparte. Bernadotte obtained the preference, 
and his army arrived on the banks of the Piave, the day 
before the passage of that river. I was ordered to go 
and compliment him, and to seek a ford where he might 
pass the river. The most elegant politeness of manner 
distinguished the general and his staff; they appeared • 
delighted at forming a part of the army, and especially 
at serving under the command of the hero of Italy. The 
interview took place next day, and it v/as marked by a 
degree of cordiality and candour, which produced a good 
impression among the troops present at the scene. 

The first attacks of the French army were made with 
so much impetuosity, that the enemy felt himself unable 
to resist, and compelled to choose another ground. He 
retired to the Tagliamonte, the passage of which he re- 
solved at last to defend. General Bonaparte settled 
every thing so that the honour of the day might belong 
to Bernadotte : a corps of six thousand grenadiers was 
placed under his orders, and he received the command 
of the centre, where the enemy had the strongest forces 
to oppose to ours. Bernadotte passed the numerous 
branches of the rivers, at the head of his soldiers, cry- 
ing, " The Republic for ever !" and under the most mur- 



22 MEMOIRS OF 

derous fire; but Massena, wJao commanded the left wing, 
had attacked with so much vigour, that the enemy be- 
fore us only fought to get to the end of the day, and not 
to be too much harassed in their retreat. 

The result of this battle made the general-in-chief 
sensible that the Archduke retreated to await him be- 
yond the plains of Styria, and that the nearer he might 
approach to Vienna, the more equal the forces and the 
more stubborn the defence would become. Bonaparte 
resolved therefore to recall the division of Joubert that 
was at Brixen. 

With two companies of grenadiers of the 69th, and 
some cavalry, I was sent to fetch General Joubert. 
General Zayonjeck, a Pole, newly arrived at the army, 
received an order to support me with some squadrons of 
dragoons. I arrived at Lienz without any impediment ; 
but there I got certain information that I could not, 
without losing all my men, to the very last penetrate to 
the place where our first troops stood under the com- 
mand of General Belliard. I wished however to carry 
my undertaking into execution, and what I eould not 
do with my soldiers I resolved to attempt alone. I 
therefore left my troops at Lienz under the command of 
a good captain, and taking with me a lieutenant named 
Aeyorte, a brave and resolute man, I threw myself 
with him into a caleche, both of us well wrapped up in 
our cloaks, hoping we might be able to cross that part 
of Tyrol in the character of Italian merchants. We ad- 
vanced, in fact, some stages without meeting with any 
obstacle. We had already reached the first houses of 
Muhlbach at nightfall, when our carriage was stopped 
by the clergyman of the place, who said to me in La- 
tin : " Do not enter ; fly to the mountains, or you are 
lost. You are expected, and nobody will be able to 
save you." Since I had left college, I had entirely ne- 
glected the Latin language. I scarcely understood it, 
and I was making the clergyman repeat his speech, 
when his sudden flight, added to furious cries, warned 
us that we had not a moment to lose. In an instant 
we jumped out of the carriage and ran to the hills. 
We hid ourselves in a ditch : when up to our necks in 
the snow, we heard the Tyrolians pass and fire their 
muskets, The pursuit was long, and not without un- 
easiness to us. At last we ventured to change our po- 
sition, We penetrated farther into the mountains, and 



COUNT LAVALL3TTE. 23 

the garret of a hovel was our retreat for the remainder 
of the night. At daybreak we were obliged to adopt 
some resolution. To advance was impossible : we de- 
cided therefore to return on foot to Lienz, avoiding the 
inhabited places. We succeeded for some leagues ; but 
after having in vain attempted to turn a village, we 
were forced to pass through it. The peasants v/ere at 
church, the doors of which were open. Some old wo- 
men called after us, and a dozen of the most alert 
among the men soon reached us. We were forced to 
yield to numbers. We did not know German enough 
to make ourselves understood by people who besides 
spoke that language very ill, and they resolved to lead 
us back to Muhlback. The whole population of the 
town and environs were assembled together. We were 
introduced into the town-hall, situated in the great 
square. The people were highly excited, and I could 
see by the fear depicted on the faces of the municipal 
officers, that our situation was becoming dangerous. 
Several of those brutes were dragging us along, when, 
after having suddenly disengaged myself from their 
hands, I peremptorily insisted on being heard. But 
then came again the difficulty of making myself under- 
stood. I sat down, took up a pen and wrote in Italian, 
that I was an aide-de-camp of the General-in-chief Bo- 
naparte ; that I was carrying to General Joubert the 
news that a truce had been signed with the Archduke 
Charles ; that they were at liberty to murder us, — but 
in that case, my mission not being executed, hostilities 
would continue in Tyrol, and my death be revenged on 
the inhabitants. This account being proclaimed from 
the top of the balcony, and repeated among the crowd, 
succeeded in calming them. I then asked leave to con- 
tinue my journey, but the cries began anew. The on- 
ly permission I obtained was to return to Lienz. We 
were escorted there by a gentleman and a clergyman 
presented by the peasants. On our arrival I gave them 
a written acknowledgment of their generous conduct, 
and hope one day to be able to record their names, and 
recommend them to the esteem of all friends of hu- 
manity. 

I had scarcely arrived at Lienz, when I learned that 
I was about to be attacked by the Tyroleans who had 
assembled in the mountains. The inhabitants of the 
place were not very peaceably disposed ; but I hoped 



24 MEMOIRS OF 

to awe them by my firmness. I could not entertain the 
intention of engaging in a useless action. I wished, 
however, to carry along with me about fifty wounded 
Frenchmen whom I found in the hospital, and whom 
the Austrians had abandoned in their retreat. While I 
was taking the necessary measures for their transfer, 
I was told that one of the posts placed at the entrance 
of the town had been killed by the Tyroleans, who were 
advancing against us. I returned to the inn to get on 
horseback ; but, just as I was coming out of the door, 
a dozen of these rebels, placed in ambush at thirty steps 
distance, fired at us and killed my horse, as also those 
my servant was holding by the bridle, and gave me a 
severe bruise in the belly. I had just time to extricate 
myself and rejoin the troops. To attempt resistance 
in the interior of the town would have been madness : 
we left it amidst a shower of bullets, shot from the win- 
dows. The Tyroleans were waiting for us at the gate. 
We were obliged to repulse them with the bayonet, and 
continued fighting till we arrived at Spital, several 
-leagues off. There I found General Zayonjeck, who 
had at last succeeded in getting forward, and was com- 
ing to join me. This affair cost us five-and-twenty 
men killed and wounded, and three distinguished offi- 
cers. This loss grieved me sorely, and though I had 
done all that prudence required, I was nevertheless 
anxious to know what impression it would make on 
the general-in-chief. My report had preceded me : I 
was well received, though he blamed me for having 
ventured alone, -and without the hope of being assisted. 
The order I had been the bearer of, had also been en- 
trusted to an officer who went from Trente, and who 
was more fortunate than 1. General Joubert hastened 
to join the general-in-chief with his whole army corps : 
but the truce was already signed. 

After the victory of Neumarck, General Bonaparte 
had written to the Archduke to propose peace. The 
Cabinet of Vienna, tired of the long and unfortunate 
contest, and fearing that the loss of a battle might 
bring the enemy to the gates of their metropolis, ea- 
gerly seized the only means of stopping the French in 
their victorious career. The truce was signed at Ju- 
denburg on the 7th, and the preliminaries at Leoben on 
the 18th of April, by Messrs. de Gullo and Meerfield 
on the part of the Austrians, and General Bonaparte 
and M. Clarke on the part of the French. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 25 

In the mean while a circumstance happened at Ge- 
noa, that strongly fixed the general's attention. The 
government of that small republic had refused to ad- 
mit one of our squadrons into its ports. The English 
party, that was uppermost in the senate of Genoa, had 
stirred up a riot among the rabble; a Frenchman had 
been killed, and the frigate La Modesto had been burn- 
ed. Such acts of violence required a speedy and ener- 
getic repression ; but General Bonaparte wished that 
the punishment might not be inflicted by the French 
government. Secret emissaries, sent from Paris, had 
been instructed to obtain, by all possible means, the 
union of Genoa with France. This was, however, not 
the opinion of General Bonaparte. It would have caus- 
ed a renewal of painful discussions with the Austrians, 
at the very moment when the treaty was being put in- 
to execution. Besides, the Italian army derived consi- 
derable advantages from the Genoese republic. In con- 
sequence, General Bonaparte thought fit to send me to 
Genoa, with precise instructions, and an order to deli- 
ver to the Doge, in full senate, the letter he addressed 
to him, giving him no more than four-and-twenty hours 
to execute the measures of which I was the bearer. 
My entrance into the city caused great anxiety, and the 
approach of a terrible though unknown danger made 
the magistrate, in whose hands the care of the public 
reposed, feel that the republic was irretrievably lost, if 
any fresh outrages were committed in the presence of 
an aide-de-camp of General Bonaparte. The people be- 
came calm, as if by enchantment. M. Faypoult, the 
French ambassador, was greatly dispirited; and when 
I declared to him that the orders of the general-in- 
chief were, that I should deliver my letter to the Doge 
in full senate, he recoiled with alarm, and said there 
was no instance of a stranger ever having entered the 
Petty Council presided by the Doge. I replied, that 
there was no instance either of an order of General Bo- 
naparte not being executed, and that he was immedi- 
ately to acquaint the Doge of my arrival; that in an 
hour's time I would go to the palace of the Senate ; 
that I had nothing to do with the forms of the Repub- 
lic, nor to care for the peril I might run in executing 
the orders of my chief. Half an hour afterwards I was 
informed that I might go to the palace. When I enter- 
ed the hall, anger and consternation were visible on the 
3 



26 MEMOIES OF 

features of all the members of the Council. After hav- 
ing delivered my letter, and required the execution of 
the orders it contained within four-and-twenty hours, 
I retired ; and the agitation was so strong in the As- 
sembly, that I heard a powerful voice repeating the 
words : " Ci batteremo," (We will fight.) However, 
they did not fight. Three senators were arrested. 

Despatches were sent to the general-in-chief. A 
provisional government was instituted, and a commis- 
sion chosen to modify the Genoese constitution. Anx- 
iety, agitation, and fear were carried to the highest pitch. 
I thought I should be able to set off the next day, when a 
vessel that entered the port gave me fresh cause of 
uneasiness. She had on board Madame Bonaparte, (the 
general's mother,) with two of her daughters, afterwards 
known as Queen of Naples, and Grand Duchess of Tus- 
cany, — and M. Bacciochi, newly married. These la- 
dies had not seen the general-in-chief for several years. 
They had come from Marseilles, fancying that Italy 
was tranquil. General Bonaparte had not received the 
letter in which they acquainted him with their arrival. 
No measures had been taken, — no orders given ; the 
riots might perhaps begin anew, and they might fall vic- 
tims to popular fury. My first thought was, to remain 
with them, and to collect some means of defence, in case 
they should be attacked. But Madame Bonaparte was 
a woman of great sense and courage. " I have nothing 
to fear in this place," she said; " since my son holds as 
hostages the most considerable persons of the Republic. 
Go quickly and acquaint him with my arrival. To- 
morrow I shall continue my journey." I followed her ad- 
vice, merely taking the precaution of ordering some de- 
tachments of cavalry I found in my way to go to meet 
them. They arrived without accident the next day at 
Milan. 

CHAPTER HI. 

While France and her armies were at last enjoying the 
repose bought by such heroic exertions, Government 
betrayed, by its internal dissensions, the fatal secret of 
its weakness and incapacity. General Bonaparte fol- 
lowed attentively the progress of the various sad dis- 
sensions which took place at Paris. In the heat of the 
debates in the Council of Five Hundred, some aspersions 
had been directed against his lieutenants, and even 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 27 

against himself. He at first proudly repelled them ; 
but on maturer thought, he resolved to send to Paris 
some one who could obtain exact information on the 
situation of affairs, and I was chosen for the mission. 
" Mix with every body," he said ; " do not let yourself 
be led away by party spirit ; tell me the truth, and tell 
it me free from all passion." 

I arrived in Paris in the month of May. The five 
members of Government were, at that time, Barras, 
Rewbell, Carnot, La Reveillere, Lepaux, and Barthele- 
my. The first four had been members of the Conven- 
tion ; and although none of them had been famous dur- 
ing the Reign of Terror for any atrocious act, still the 
three first had voted the death of the king, — a vote 
which, notwithstanding the fatal though powerful con- 
sideration that may be presented in alleviation, placed 
them among the most furious Jacobins, and was preju- 
dicial to the respect with which they ought to have been 
invested. The people bore impatiently the yoke of 
men who recalled to their minds such fatal events; and 
they were especially disliked by the Constitutionalists 
of 1791, who reproached them at once with the destruc- 
tion of their edifice and the persecutions which had 
so long weighed upon them. 

When I arrived the contest was violent, and the an- 
tagonists of Government made no secret of their wish 
to overthrow the majority. The denouement grew at 
last inevitable. The rage of the several parties had 
reached its greatest height. The journals, pamphlets, 
and posted bills contained the most violent provocations. 
The Constitution not having left the Directory space 
enough for defence, it resolved to overthrov/ all barriers. 
Still, there was wanted a celebrated general to put the 
plan into execution. Augereau came to their assist- 
ance. The day before he arrived from Italy, I received 
a letter from General Bonaparte, in which he said : 
" Augereau is going to Paris. Place no confidence in 
him. He has brought confusion into the army : he has 
a factious spirit." When I returned to Italy, I learned 
that the misunderstanding between the generals and 
the officers of the two divisions of Augereau and Ber- 
nadotte had extended to the private soldiers and that 
they taxed one another mutually with being Jacobins 
and Royalists. General Augereau had openly declar- 
ed for the majority of the Directory : Barras, who reck- 



■io MEMOIRS OF 

oned upon him, called him to Paris and gave him the 
military command. 

Government, being once certain of the support of the 
general, marked out their victims; and in the night of 
the 17th Fructidor, orders to arrest them were deliver- 
ed. As they might have escaped in the night, it was 
resolved to wait till daybreak, and by a wretched con- 
trivance, worthy of a melo-drama, this outrage was im- 
mediately announced by the discharge of a four-and- 
twenty pounder on the platform of the Pont Neuf. The 
explosion broke all the windows in the neighbourhood, 
and spread dismay through the city. At eight o'clock 
in the morning the Director, Barthelemy, thirty mem- 
bers of the two Councils, and several writers, were sent 
to prison. A few days afterwards, a part of France 
witnessed their representatives dragged along, in trel- 
liced carts, like wild beasts. They were taken to Roche- 
fort, and from thence to Guyenne, where the unwhole- 
some climate proved fatal to some of these unhappy 
men. Several of the victims succeeded in escaping. 
Carnot found a refuge in the house of M. * * *, one of 
the warmest advocates of the arrest. But he was the 
countryman and friend of the Director, and his gene- 
rous soul found means to conciliate,the duties of friend- 
ship with the passion of party spirit. 

I had passed the evening of the 17th with Barras. 
The ill-disguised agitation of his courtiers, and some 
words which I caught en -passant^ taught me the secret 
of the night. I retired early, resolved not to show my- 
self the next day, as I did not wish to lead any one to 
suppose by my presence that General Bonaparte ap- 
proved of such unheard-of violence. I vi^ent however 
to Barras on the day after. As soon as he perceived 
me, he called me to his closet ; and then assuming a 
threatening look and tone of voice, he said : " Yoa 
have betrayed the Republic and your general. For the 
last six weeks. Government has received no private 
letters from him. Your opinions on what is going for- 
ward are known to us, and you have undoubtedly 
painted our conduct under the most odious colours. 
I declare to you, that last night the Directory deliberat- 
ed whether you ought not to share the fate of the con- 
spirators that are on the road to Guyenne. Out of 
consideration foi General Bonaparte, you shall remain 
free ; but I have just sent off ray secretary to explain to 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 29 

him what has happened, and your conduct." I an- 
swered very coolly: "You have been deceived. I 
never betrayed any person ! The events of the l8th are 
calamitous. Nobody shall ever persuade me that Go- 
vernment has a right to punish representatives of the 
people without trial, and in contempt of the laws. I 
have not written any thing else for the last six weeks ; 
and if you wish to ascertain the fact, here is the key of 
my bureau : have my papers seized ; their examination 
will cover my false accusers with confusion." This 
moderate and firm reply, but especially my proposal, 
pacified him. He tried to begin an explanation, but 
I retired. When I returned home, I burned my corres- 
pondence : it might have exposed my general, and 
consequently I could not hesitate. When that was 
done, I sent off, as an express, an officer of the staff 
who was at Paris, to acquaint the general with all that 
had happened ; and not wishing that my sudden depart- 
ure should be attributed to fear, I remained eight days 
longer in town. I went, however, to General Augereau 
to inquire whether he had any commission to give me. 
Since he had been in Paris he was like a man beside 
himself. He spoke to me of the general-in-chief with 
a great deal of flippancy, and of the 18th of Fructidor 
with more enthusiasm than he would have done of the 
battle of Areola. "Doyouknow," he said, "that you 
deserve to be shot for your behaviour? — but you need 
not be uneasy, and you may rely on me." I thanked 
him with a smile ; but I felt it would be useless to put 
his kindness to the proof, and the next day I set off for 
Italy. 

I left Paris on the 1st Vendemiaire, just as the Direc- 
tory, the ministers, and all the constituted authorities 
were going to the Champ de Mars, to celebrate the new 
year according to the custom of the time. I had 
scarcely arrived at the Castle of Passeriano, when Ge- 
ral Bonaparte sent for me into the garden, and there 
continued questioning me during four hours. My 
correspondence had acquainted him with all the par- 
ticulars of the event ; but I was still obliged to describe 
the hesitations, fits of passion, and almost every gesture 
of the principal actors. His opinion had been long 
fixed respecting the different members of the Directory, 
and even the nature of the government itself. 

During the long unoccupied days that the diplo- 
3* 



30 MEMOIRS OF 

matic debates afforded him, the general-in-chief used 
to pass a part of his evenings with the learned Monge, 
whom he had summoned near his person. Among the 
varied and instructive conversations which delighted 
the general-in-chief, the plan of conquering Egypt, so 
often presented to tne ministry in the reigns of Louis 
XV. and Louis XVL was discussed. The general, 
who always went to the bottom of every thing, wished 
to read all that had been written on the subject. 
Monge, having held for some time the portfolio of the 
marine department, was enabled to procure him quickly 
all the most interesting papers. The measures that 
had been proposed appeared faulty to the general- in- 
chief; but the fertility of his mind made him discover 
the advantages he might derive from his position, to 
lay down a plan easier of execution and better in its 
result. It is probable that the idea was at that very 
moment communicated to the Directory ; for, soon 
after, the first germs of its execution began secretly to 
develops themselves, M. Pousseilgues, late chief 
clerk of the treasury, was at that time secretary of the 
French Legation at Genoa. This gentleman had 
several relations, merchants, at Malta. He was called 
to the head-quarters, and from thence he went to 
Malta. • His mission was to sound the disposition of 
the government, and of the French knights, to get well 
acquainted with the spirit of the people, and to ascer- 
tain what were the means of subsistence, or the ob- 
stacles to be expected. Finally, he was to do his 
utmost to send to the head- quarters some of the 
knights of Malta, whom Bonaparte might have known 
at the military school. This mission was executed 
with great secrecy and intelligence ; and during Pous- 
seilgues' absence, secret efforts in furtherance of the 
object advanced rapidly. To lead curiosity astray, 
the general spoke of a journey he proposed to make 
after the peace was concluded. He said he intended 
to go to Germany and the north of Europe with his 
wife, Monge, Generals Berthier and Marmont. I 
was destined to accompany Eugene Beauharnais, who 
at that time was no more than seventeen years of age. 
General Bonaparte diverted himself with setting up a 
plan of studies and observations, of which we were to 
give an account at the different places where we were to 
meet. That plan was the more reasonable, as General 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 31 

Bonaparte could scarcely live at rest in France, if 
peace lasted any time. He would not have been able 
to avoid the clashing of the different factions, and 
would perhaps have been forced to take part in the 
measures they would have attempted, with a view to 
triumph. The Directory was afraid of him ; his glory 
was annoying ; his influence over the enemy could 
not fail to be immense. On the other hand, he was 
too young to have a place in the Directory, and the 
idea of being the minister of Barras and La Reveillere 
Lepaux was not to be borne. 

All these reflections determined him to make peace, 
nothvvithstanding the contrary orders of the Directory. 
Misunderstanding and dissatisfaction showed them- 
selves in all the letters he addressed to the Government. 
His unpublished correspondence contains three of 
those letters, in which his ill-humour is displayed with 
a degree of energy and pride that made the Directory 
tremble, and was the source of the hatred which in 
course of time brought on the 18th Bruraaire. The 
Directory did not wish to sacrifice Venice to Austria : 
General Bonaparte wanted to retain Mantua; and as 
his instructions did not prescribe absolutely that he 
should not abandon Venice, he took upon himself to 
sign, on the 4th Vendemiaire, (25th September,) the 
treaty of Passeriano, well convinced that Government 
would not dare to express discontent openly ; and that 
France, rejoiced at peace, would overrule with her ap- 
plause the rumours of the general's enemies. Ac- 
cording to our calculations, the courier of the directory 
was to arrive at Passeriano the very day fixed for the 
signature. Bonaparte was reckoning with me the dis- 
tance the courier had to go, and the hour he might 
arrive ; and he candidly acknowledged the perplexity 
he would be in, if he received from government an 
order not to go any farther. Recollecting afterwards 
with disgust the slow march of Moreau in Germany, 
a few months before, while he was at Leoben ; and the 
appointment of Augereau to the command of the 
Rhine army, instead of Desaix, whom he had recom- 
mended in the most pressing manner, he added, in 
a tone of much ill-humour, " 1 see very well that 
they are preparing defeats for me. That man (mean- 
ing Augereau) is incapable of conceiving an exten- 
sive plan. He will get beaten, or will not advance 



32 ME3I0IRS OF 

at all ; all the Austrian forces will then fall upon me, 
and my beloved Italy will be the grave of the French 
army." He then questioned me as to the disposition 
of that part of France through which I had travelled, 
and I assured him that peace would be received with 
enthusiasm; that the people would bestow blessings on 
him, and that public happiness would be his work. 

At last, on the 27th of Vendemiaire, the ministers of 
Austria were called to Passeriano, and the secretaries 
of the two Legations made copies of the treaty. That 
business lasted the whole day. The general was 
delightfully merry. No more discussions ! He re- 
.mained a part of the day in his saloon, and would 
not even have the candles lighted when it grew 
dark. We sat talking and telling one another ghost 
stories, like a family living in an old castle. At 
last, at about ten o'clock at night, he was told that 
all was ready. He ran to his closet, cheerfully signed 
the document, and at midnight General Berthier, the 
bearer of the treaty, was on the road to Paris. Twelve 
hours afterwards, the courier of the Directory arrived. 
The orders were positive ; and if they had come to 
hand the day before, the treaty would not have been 
signed. The next day the general-in-chief wrote to 
the Directory, expressing his wish to leave Italy, and to 
come to France to enjoy a little repose ; but it was ab- 
solutely necessary first to organize the Cisalpine re- 
public ; to take prudential measures against the Pope 
and the king of Naples, who showed the most hostile 
intentions. A squadron, with troops, had been sent to 
Corfu, Zante, and Cephalonia, to take possession of 
these Venitian islands, which had been given to 
France by the treaty of Campo Formio, and the gene- 
ral did not think fit to leave Italy before he received 
accounts of their organizations. 

In the meanwhile, M, Pousseilgues was beginning 
to give the required information respecting the dispo- 
sition of the public mind at Malta. He had succeeded 
in sending to the general, M. N***, his former school- 
fellov/ at the military school, and who had been for 
several years a knight in the island. From his report, 
and the letters of M. Pousseilgues, it appeared that the 
knights of the French tongue, receiving neither money 
nor reward from their relations, and reduced to the 
most miserable shifts to live, would not stand much 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 33 

upon their fidelity to the order ; and that they would 
have no objection to leave the island, provided they 
got leave to return to France ; that the Grand Master 
Hompesch, a man devoid of strength of inind, would 
probably make no use of the means of defence he pos- 
sessed in his military position, and the land and sea 
forces he had at his disposal. The persons who sur- 
rounded him had an influence over him, so much the 
more pernicious on account of the desire of both the 
English and the Russians to gain possession of the 
island. The Russian consul was a bold and active 
man, who frightened the government by his threats, 
and spread disorder and terror in the minds of every 
one. It was therefore of great consequence to Gene- 
ral Bonaparte to take a resolution and show himself 
before the island with an imposing force, that might 
decide the Grand Master in favour of France. He re- 
solved at last to leave Italy. He addressed a procla- 
mation to the army, and left it under the command of 
General Kilmaine. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Bonaparte crossed Switzerland, and went toRastadt : 
his travelling companions were, Generals Marmont, 
Duroc, myself, his secretary Bourrienne, and Ivan his 
physician. The only place at which he stopped was 
Geneva, where the Directory was already beginning, 
by underhand manceuvres, to augment the number of 
its adherents, who were one day to effect the union of 
that republic with France. Carnot had sought refuge 
in that city, and General Bonaparte privately sent 
him advice to leave it as soon as possible, so as to 
avoid a persecution he was not able to prevent. 

M. Necker was then living on his estate at Coppet, 
near Geneva. He still looked upon himself as a great 
man, and flattered himself that the conqueror of Italy 
would pay him a visit. I do not know what was at 
that time General Bonaparte''s opinion of the financial 
talents of the late minister of Louis XVI. ; but I am 
sure he had but little esteem for his personal character, 
and had positively declared his disapprobation of the 
sovereign's choice of a minister for France. We had 
a great desire to go with him, and see the seat that 
Voltaire had celebrated in the latter part of his life ; 
but the general-in-chief had also a grudge against 



34 MEMOIRS OF 

Voltaire. He therefore thought fit not to make either 
of the two pilgrimages. We crossed Switzerland with- 
out stopping any where. However, his carriage hav- 
ing broken down at a league from Morat, we travelled 
that part of the way on foot. Though it was no more 
than seven o'clock in the morning, the road was 
covered with people, and especially women, who had 
passed the night there, to get a peep at the conqueror 
of Italy. When we arrived near the bone-house, 
where lie deposited the remains of the Burgundian sol- 
diers killed in the famous battle of Morat, we found a 
General d'Erlac, of the celebrated family of that name, 
who was waiting for the general-in-chief, in the ex- 
pectation that he would stop to see the monument. 
General Bonaparte not being in military uniform, the 
stranger, without knowing him, gave him all the par- 
ticulars he could wish respecting the victory of the 
Swiss. After he had examined the military position, 
he only said, " Charles the bold must have been a great 
madman I" This reflection, uttered in a firm tone, 
apprised M. d'Erlac that he was in the presence of the 
hero he had so much wished to see. A respectful 
bow, and a compliment expressed with emotion, were 
the only homage he was enabled to pay him, for the 
general proceeded on his journey. 

Two days afterwards we passed through Offembach, 
the head-quarters of Augereau, the general-in-chief of 
the Rhine army. General Bonaparte stopped before 
his door, and sending him word that he was there, but 
in too great a hurry to get out of his carriage, he 
added, that he wished to see him for one moment. 
The lieutenant of the general-in-chief had however 
already begun to forget him, and his only answer was, 
that he was dressing. This unpoliteness was but ill 
repaired the next day, when he sent his aide-de-camp. 
Augereau's hatred of General Bonaparte augmented in 
proportion with his wrongs, and only ended with his 
life. 

Only one remarkable circumstance happened during 
his short stay at Rastadt. The king of Sweden, in his 
quality of the grand duke of Pomerania, had sent to 
the congress of Rastadt Count Fersen, formerly cele- 
brated at the court of France, and who had acted so 
conspicuous a part in the famous journey to Varennes. 
The hatred of his sovereign for France was a welU 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 36 

known fact, and the count could not be agreeable. He 
happened to express the fatal wish of his being presented 
to the general. When he was in his presence, the 
latter said to him, "How could you expect, sir, you 
could be able to serve the interests of Sweden, — you 
wlio are only known by your affection for a govern- 
ment justly proscribed in France, and by your useless 
exertions for its re-establishment ?" M. de Fersen re- 
plied by a few words which we did not hear. General 
Berthier, who was present, wishing to relieve him, re- 
called to his memory that they had fought together in 
America. By that means the ambassador retired a 
little less perplexed, and the next day he left Rastadt, 
whither he did not return until some time after. 

Two days after this scene General Bonaparte set 
off for Paris, leaving me at the congress with M, Fer- 
ret, secretary of the legation at Campo Formio. " I 
cannot take you with me to Paris," he said; " the Di- 
rectory has not yet forgot your conduct on the 18th 
Fructidor, and this is not the fit moment for justifying 
yourself. I shall make you amends for this hereafter. 
Remain here. Write me all you hear of the diplomatic 
gossip. You will not easily find again the same op- 
portunity of gaining instruction. I leave with you 
some of my servants, for I want people to think I shall 
soon come back." 

His intention was not, however, to return to Rastadt. 
The difficulties brought in by the insinuations of M. 
de Thougeat every moment impeded the negotiations. 
After three months' debates, nothing was agreed on 
as to the manner of concluding. 

The more the negotiations advanced, the more 
evident it appeared that the peace would not be of 
long standing ; and the war was' already secretly re- 
solved, when the news came that General Bonaparte 
had embarked for the east, with some of the most able 
French generals, and thirty thousand of the best troops 
of the republic. Count Lehrbach left Rastadt a short 
time before the commencement of hostilities, and it 
can scarcely be doubted but that it was he who induced 
the Austrian cabinet to resolve to arrest the ministers 
of France. 

A regiment of hussars of Szeckler, a sort of pandiers, 
recruited on the frontiers of Turkey, already surrounded 
Rastadt, when the French ministers received an order 



36 , MEMOIRS OP 

to leave the place. The Baden commander of the 
town had in vain advised them to set off in the morn- 
ing, that they might cross the Rhine before night-fall. 
Their preparations caused delay : they were encum- 
bered with papers they wished to keep, and they were 
besides convinced that their sacred character of am- 
bassadors would shelter them from insult. The day 
was far advanced when they departed. At a few 
leagues from Rastadt they were stopped and mur- 
dered. I am persuaded that the Austrian government 
did not give an order for murdering them, but only for 
seizing their papers ; while the soldiers, finding a great 
deal of money about them, urged by avarice, and pro- 
bably intoxicated, thought the best way would be to 
stifle their complaints by murdering them. 

I arrived at Paris about a month before our depar- 
ture for Toulon. 

I shall speak hereafter of my marriage with Made- 
moiselle Emilie Beauharnais. The preparations of the 
eastern expedition had been made very secretly. The 
Directory had not even entrusted to their clerks the 
task of copying the various orders that were to be 
transcribed, and the secret had been so well kept that 
England in no way suspected our design, nor could 
take any means to prevent it. Fourteen ships of the 
line were assembled at Toulon. Each ship took only 
half the necessary number of seamen, the rest of the 
crews was composed of all the regiments of the army. 
Admiral Brueys commanded the fleet; and the officers 
who served under his orders, all full of ardour, had 
most of them already acquired reputation as clever 
men. 

Besides the fleet of Toulon, troops who were em- 
barked at Genoa, Ajaccio, and Civita Vecchia, had 
received orders to join the fleet before its arrival at 
Malta. I embarked on board the frigate Artemisa, 
which was a sort of aide-de-camp to the admiral. The 
flotilla of General Desaix not having come to the ren- 
dezvous, the Artemisa was sent on discovery. Gene- 
ral Murat joined us ; and when we were not far frpm 
Malta, he obliged the captain to give him a boat, that 
he might go down to the outward defences of Valetta. 
This was an act of imprudence : he was also guilty of 
another, which I shall mention, because it gives an 
idea, of the character of that general. While cruizing 



COUJST LAVALLETTE. 37 

before Malta, the only man-of-war the Order possessed, 
came up to us, wanting to get into the port. Murat 
made a signal for her to steer leeward of our frigate. 
This was contrary to custom: but the captain of the 
Maltese ship being taken unawares, and intimidated at 
sight of the tri-coloured flag, obeyed the signal with- 
out hesitation ; on his arrival he spread the alarm ; and 
the city, which we might have taken by surprise, was 
in a state of defence when we landed. 

On the lOth of June the fleet at last appeared in 
sight of Malta. The aspect of so large a fleet, with 
four hundred transports and a formidable army, threw 
the grand master and his council into the greatest dis- 
may, and spread confusion among the knights and in- 
habitants of the island. The disorder augmented, and 
a French knight had already been murdered by the 
populace of the city, when the general-in-chief sent 
his aide-de-camp, Junot, to summon the grand master 
to open the gates. The answer being that the govern- 
ment was resolved to defend the place, a part of the 
army landed, attacked all the small forts which de- 
fended the shore, took possession of them, and soon 
after invested the town. The fortifications of Valetta 
consist of a ditch dug in the rock, the dimensions of 
which make an attack extremely difficult. It was 
quite impossible to open the trenches, as all the island 
together could not have procured us wood, nor even 
earth enough to establish our batteries and shelter us 
from the fire of the fortress. Fortunately, the grand 
master was seized with fear. The Russian consul had 
already required that the island should be delivered 
over to some Russian troops who were expected. The 
grand master, fancying that the order of Malta was 
irretrievably lost, and forgetting that from one mo- 
ment to another an English fleet might arrive and 
deliver him, resolved to sign a capitulation with 
General Bonaparte. The treaty was soon concluded ; 
and, two days after our arrival, the army was master 
of the city and forts, and the fleet at anchor in the 
fine harbour of Valetta. General Caffarelli, on exa- 
mining more minutely the fortifications, said to the 
general-in-chief — " It is very lucky for us that there 
were people in the place to open the gates for us ; 
for if it had been deserted, the army would never have 
got in, notwithstanding all our exertions." Next 
4 



38 MEMOIRS OF 

day th6 grand master and all his officers went on board 
of a brig:, and 1 received orders to conduct them, with 
the frigate Artemisa, to the extremity of the Adriatic 
Gulf, that they might not fall into the hands of the 
Barbary corsairs, who would have considered them 
glorious trophies. Two days after our departure we 
met a Ragusan vessel, from whom we learned that she 
had seen in the morning an English fleet steering 
towards Malta. Fortunately the army and its chief 
were already gone off. Our great fleet, with our four 
hundred transports, sailed during the night along the 
north coast of Candia, while Nelson was waiting for it 
on the south. 

It was long discussed in the fleet what would have 
been the result if Nelson had met us. The military 
officers, and especially those who were on board the 
ships of the line, were convinced that we should have 
beaten the English fleet : General Bonaparte support- 
ed that opinion by all the authority his name -could 
add to it. I must however acknowledge that I never 
shared it. Four hundred transports, the captains of 
which were but in a small part Frenchmen, and which 
extended along all points of the horizon, would quickly 
have been dispersed by the English frigates. In spite 
of all our exertions we should have experienced great 
losses. The Egyptian expedition would no more have 
been practicable ; but the army might have thrown it- 
self on the coast of Sicily, and have made itself master 
of that island. The cowardice of the grand master, 
and the wretched defence of the knights of Malta, 
were a stroke of fortune that seemed to protect the 
destiny of the general-in-chief. 

I had received an order to inspect the fortifications 
of Corfu, and the magazines with which that city was 
provided. From thence I was to go and acquaint All, 
the Pacha of Janina, with the conquest of Egypt, and 
try to persuade him, that as we remained friends with 
the Grand Seignor, it was his interest not to break 
with France. My mission was difficult and dangerous. 
We knew Ali Pacha for a man incapable of keeping 
faith. He was then on a good understanding with the 
troops dispersed through the Ionian Islands, and the 
coast of that part of Greece over which he had the 
command; but it was certain he would abandon us 
and become our enemy as soon as his policy might 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 39 

show him any advantage on the other side "When I 
arrived at Corfu I met General Chabot, who asked me 
whether I was the bearer of rich presents for All 
Pacha, and of a great deal of money to pave my way; 
for he added, "these are the best arguments you can 
make use of with him." These were precisely the 
things General Bonaparte had forgot. " But," said 
he, " you need not be uneasy : the Pacha is on the 
Danube, fighting, much against his will, at Udin, with 
Pdswan Ogla." This account took a great burden off 
my mind. I hastened to execute the other part of my 
mission, and got to Egypt. 



CHAPTER VI. 

At a few leagues from Aboukir, whither I had re- 
ceived orders to go, the frigate I was on board of was 
chased by an English vessel that came to reconnoitre 
the fleet. This happened on the 21st of July, I went 
on board the Orient to see Admiral Brueys, the com^ 
mander of the fleet. T had not expected to find the 
fleet moored in the roads of Aboukir. 

After a conversation with the admiral, I went during 
the night, alone, over that immense ship, which carried 
130 guns. I did not meet a single person upon deck ; 
it appeared to me as if I were in the church of Notre 
Dame. A circumstance that made the solitude still 
more singular was, that before our landing, there had 
been 2145 persons on board, and at that moment there 
were not above 600. The more T examined that vast 
floating citadel, the less inclined I felt to take part in 
the battle. In fact, I was not a sea-officer, and my 
duty was to join my general. There would be no 
want of messengers to bring him intelligence of a vic- 
tory, whilst I should reap much blame and very little 
pity, if by some disaster or other 1 were to be taken 
prisoner, or killed. I went therefore to the admiral, 
and said to him : " After mature consideration, I am 
resolved to continue my journey. I must give an ac- 
count of my mission, and the position wherein I found 
you." He gave me a boat to carry me to Rosetta ; but 
I soon repented the step I had taken. The swell oc- 
casioned by the meeting of the Nile with the sea was 
then very strong, and a violent tempest added to the 
danger that threatened us. A vessel laden with pro- 
visions had just been totally lost ; another much larger, 
which was still struggling, was kind enough to throw 



40 MEMOIRS OP 

US a rope, that we might fasten a boat to her, and 
avoid running out to sea, where we might go to the 
bottom, or split upon the breakers. We remained 
seventeen hours in that situation, when at last the sea 
growing a little less boisterous, I proposed getting for- 
ward at a quick rate, so as to gain the mouth of the 
Nile. The sailors were not much pleased at my plan ; 
but I was seconded by the ensign who commanded the 
boat, and who was a young man full of energy and in- 
trepidity. The first billow nearly submerged us. 

At Rosetta I found that the commander, Bidon 
Julien, knew no more about the army than Admiral 
Brueys did. " I am, however, easy," he said to me. 
*' The inhabitants are perplexed, and that is a sure sign 
that we are victorious. You have nothing to fear on 
the Nile : I shall give you an armed vessel to carry 
you to Cairo, of which place the army must by this 
lime have taken possession." The day after I em- 
barked on the Nile, I met Arrighi, (now Duke of 
Padua,) who had come from Cairo, and was convey- 
ing to the admiral an account of our victories, with the 
reiterated order to go to Corfu. When I told the gene- 
ral-in-chief that the fleet was still at Aboukir, he show- 
ed signs of great ill-humour ; and fearing that Arrighi 
might encounter difficulties in his way, and not join 
the admiral quick enough, he sent off that very night 
his aide-de-camp, Julien, with fresh orders. The un- 
fortunate youth went down the Nile in a djerme, es- 
corted by a dozen soldiers. His want of experience 
was the cause of his death. Having entered the 
branch of Alexandria, bethought he might rest for the 
night ; but the Arabs murdered him and his escort. Jn 
him General Bonaparte lost one of the best officers of 
his staff, and I a most excellent friend. 

The English were above a fortnight vi'ithout show- 
ing themselves; and Arrighi found the admiral, who 
was convinced that they had counted the number of 
his ships, and did not dare to engage. It was not until 
the first of August that Nelson appeared off Alexan- 
dria with fourteen ships of the line and several frigates. 
The particulars of the battle, at which, however, I was 
not present, are too well known to require my repeat- 
ing them here. 

Although but a few days had elapsed since the ar- 
rival of the general-in-chief in Cairo, he had been pre- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 41 

ceded, as he was every where else, by such strict orders 
and excellent administration, that the soldiers, and in 
general all the French, were accustomed to walk 
through the metropolis and its environs without feeling 
the slightest uneasiness. The city of Cairo presented 
a curious spectacle to the Europeans who saw it for 
the first time. I had landed at Boulack on the Nile, 
at a great distance from the square of El Bekir, where 
General Bonaparte lived. The narrow streets of the 
city were filled with camels fastened to one another in 
long rows, carrying all sorts of goods on their backs, 
and led by a single man. The inhabitants passed 
through the small vacant spaces with slow gravity and 
with their pipes in their mouths; while our soldiers, 
mounted on donkeys, galloped cheerfully, sliding be- 
tween the camels, and bursting into roars of laughter. 
A shocking dust and an offensive smell of mummies 
suflx)cated us. Here and there, a few grave Mussul- 
mans, seated on their mules, opened themselves a pas- 
sage by the aid of their stick-bearers, who struck all 
that opposed them, and even the men who did not rise 
at their approach. Beggars carefully hiding their 
faces, and little inclined to discover what ours show, 
pestered the passers by with their singular cries, and 
seemed lo be soliciting alms with angry imprecations. 
Mourad Bey, after the battle of the pyramids, had 
sought refuge in Upper Egypt. He had still with him 
several thousand Mamelukes. His influence over peo- 
ple was considerable ; and as it might prove dangerous, 
the general-in-chief, while he was preparing against 
him the expedition entrusted to Desaix, tried to gain 
him over by secret negotiations. His legitimate wife, 
and his whole harem remained at Cairo. Bonaparte 
sent Eugene Beauharnais to the wife with his compli- 
ments, and the assurance that she had nothing to fear. 
She received Eugene politely, and in return for the 
presents the general-in-chief had sent her, she gave 
him her husband's beautiful shawl and some of his 
arms. But the respect shown to the wife of Mourad 
Bey had no effect on that chief. The vigour and 
talent of General Desaix, and the courage of our 
troops, who more than once forced him to retire to the 
Oasis, and reduced his followers to a few faithful 
friends, could not persuade that intrepid leader to lend 
an ear to any arrangement whatever ; and it was not 
4* 



42 MEMOIRS OF 

until after two years' conflict and adversity that he at 
last consented to come to an understanding with the 
head of the French army ; but at that time General 
Bonaparte had already left Egypt. 

It had been supposed that in so fruitful a country, 
all the wealth of the East would be accumulated. In- 
stead of that, we found misery every where. The go- 
vernment of the Mamelukes was devoid of either com- 
mon sense or moderation. Besides the 7niri and 
another tax which the people of Egypt were obliged 
to pay to the Grand Seignor, they were loaded with 
imposts, which the caprice and tyranny of the subordi- 
nate officers were perpetually inventing. The beys, 
who were the chiefs of the Mamelukes, the officers 
quartered in the different provinces, and even the pri- 
vate horsemen who were sent to maintain order in the 
■villages, thought themselves entitled to impose and 
levy taxes more or less heavy. The fellah, or peasant, 
groaned under the load of these numerous exactions : 
and if he was unfortunate enough to have children of 
either sex that drew the attention of the leaders, they 
were taken away from him to satisfy their brutal lust. 

One of the first measures of the general-in-chief was 
to set the people secure in regard to their property ; to 
make them comprehend the plain and judicious system 
of taxation about to be established, and to acquaint 
them that for the arbitrary laws to which they were 
subject under the Mamelukes, would be substituted, in 
each province, divans composed of the most reputable 
men, to judge their disputes. These various declara- 
tions soon dissipated alarm ; and we had in fact no 
cause to complain of the people during the first six 
months of our stay in the country. 

The Arab tribes were still, however, very dangerous. 
We had succeeded in making peace with some of them ; 
but several others, more numerous and better armed, 
continued frequently to interrupt our communications 
and plunder our convoys, by land, as well as on the 
Nile. We were, in consequence obliged to organize a 
system of pursuit, which was followed up with so 
much energy, that the tribes felt at last convinced that 
they must either submit or retire to other deserts. 

Mourad Bey, who was now in Upper Egypt, gave 
us no more cause of uneasiness; but Ibrahim Bey, next 
to Mourad the most powerful leader of the Mamelukes, 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 43 

had gone forward to meet the caravan returning from 
Mecca; and under the pretence of defending it against 
the French army, he stopped it in its way, and plun- 
dered it. He afterwards returned to Egypt by the 
way of Salahieh, and proclaimed his intention of at- 
tacking the French army from that side. General 
Regnier, whom I accompanied on that short expedi- 
tion, had not much trouble with the Arabs and Mame- 
lukes of the vanguard ; but he was conscious that his 
small division would soon be destroyed if no one came 
to his assistance. I went to acquaint the general-in- 
chief with this circumstance, who immediately flew to 
help him, at the head of some regiments of cavalry, 
which we had succeeded in mounting with the horses 
we found in Lower Egypt. The Mamelukes were 
beaten at Salahieh, from which place the battle took 
its name. It was then that the general-in-chief learn- 
ed the disaster of our fleet at Aboukir. The news was 
brought to him by an aide-de-camp of General Kleber. 
The officer's horse being unable to go any farther, he 
had written some particulars in an open letter, which 
I found in the hands of a peasant to whom ho had en- 
trusted it, I read the letter, and advancing towards 
the general-in-chief, I begged him to withdraw for a 
moment from the group of staff officers which sur- 
rounded him. I then gave him the note. When he 
had read it he said to me, " You know its contents ; 
keep the secret." We returned to Belbeys, where we 
found breakfast on table. Every body was in good 
spirits, and particularly the troops, who had retaken 
from the Mamelukes the spoil of the caravan. They 
were going to sell the goods for almost nothing ; but 
the general-in-chief forbade the officers to buy any of 
them there, and ordered the soldiers to dispose of them 
on their return to Cairo. All of a sudden, while 
breakfasting, the general-in-chief said to his guests : 
" It seems you like this country : that is very lucky, 
for we have now no fleet to carry us back to Europe." 
He then acquainted them with the particulars of the 
battle of Aboukir, and they were listened to with as 
much earnestness as the general had related them. 
Every one soon appeared reconciled to the event, and 
nobody talked any more of it. 

Ibrahim Bey had retired to Syria, and there was no 
doubt but he would organize in that country consi- 



44 MEMOIRS OF 

derable bodies of irregular troops, which would disturb 
our frontiers. The general-in-chief had also learned 
that the news of the invasion of Egypt had been re- 
ceived with great displeasure at Constantinople. 

The English, enraged at the conquest of Malta, and 
sensible of the important consequences of the occupa- 
tion of Egypt to their establishments in India, pressed 
the Turks to go to war. The general-in-chief had 
therefore reason to expect that he would not only be 
continually harassed by Ibraham Bey, but also that the 
Enghsh would make themselves masters of the ports 
of Syria. He took a resolution to be beforehand with 
them ; but it was first of all necessary to know what 
might be the dispositions of the Pacha who command- 
ed all Syria. The name of the Pacha for the time being, 
was Djezzar, a man of very energetic character, who 
had maintained himself for several years in his post, 
in spite of the Sultan himself, and who enforced obe- 
dience by the terror his cruelties inspired. The gene- 
ral-in-chief sent to him a young Frenchman, just come 
home from Mascata, with the Consul Beauchamp, and 
who was very well acquainted with the Arabic lan- 
guage. Djezzar sent an ambiguous answer, which 
served to convince General Bonaparte, that it would 
be necessary to support his declarations with an army. 
But a fatal incident occurred, which threatened the 
expedition with an indefinite delay. While perfect 
tranquillity seemed to prevail in Cairo and its outskirts, 
a rebellion, without any apparent cause, suddenly broke 
out at one of the gates of the city. 

A number of wounded, who had been at the battle 
of Salahieh, and some invalids of the division of 
Regnier, filling above twenty transports, were mur- 
dered, and the rebellion quickly spread through the 
city like wildfire. General Dupuis, commander of 
the fortress, immediately mounted his horse, with all 
the men he could bring together; but he was assassi- 
nated, with several of his companions. To oppose 
the rebels any longer in the streets was not to be 
thought of. Means were however found to restrain 
them, though they had made themselves masters of 
one of the largest mosques in the town. It was then 
resolved to fire on them from the citadel. The 
bombs and howitzers made great havoc among them; 
after which, some battalions of infantry attacked the 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 45 

mosque, where all the rest were killed or taken 
prisoners. This rebellion lasted three days, and did 
not occasion any great loss to the army; but the 
general-in-chief lost one of his best aides-de-camp. 
Colonel Sulkowski had already been wounded at 
Alexandria, and also at the battle of Salahieh, and 
was not yet completely recovered, when, the general- 
in-chief wishing" to send some officer to reconnoitre 
out of the city, he offered himself, pretending that it 
was his turn to march, and that his wound was entire- 
ly healed. Accompanied by fifteen guides, he was 
crossing that part of the Desert that separates the 
town of Cairo from the citadel, when a troop of Arabs, 
that had concealed themselves behind a number of 
small hillocks, suddenly rushed upon him. He was 
killed, with the greatest part of his escort; for only 
two men returned to Cairo, where they brought the 
fatal tidings. I was not then in Cairo. By order of 
the general-in-chief, I was accompanying General 
Andreossi on an expedition to the lake Mensale and 
Peluse. We were completely ignorant of what was 
going forward in the capital; and I was sailing leisure- 
ly up the Nile, when I learned that at Mansoura, or 
Lamansour, the hospital, containing our sick and 
wounded, with a detachment of soldiers, had been 
surprised, and all the men butchered without mercy. 
The rebellion of Cairo had reached the two banks 
of the river, and more particularly the brancli of 
Damietta. Some revolted villages were burned to 
make an example. The general-in-chief was very 
desirous to know whether the inhabitants of Man- 
soura had retained any remembrance of their victori- 
ous resistance, when, under the reign of St. Louis, 
tliey had been so imprudently attacked by the Count 
d'Artois. But it appeared, from all inquiries, that 
these Egyptians v/ere acquainted neither with the 
name of St. Louis, nor with the gallant actions that 
had illustrated their ancestors. 

CHAPTER VII. 
In the month of December 1798, the general-in- 
chief had not yet received any accounts from the 
Directory. The political object of the expedition 
had experienced great impediments by the loss of the 



46 MEMOIRS OF 

fleet. It was no longer to be hoped we should ever 
be able to lead the army to India, the superiority of 
the English being now concentrated on the sea. All 
that remained therefore at present to be done was to 
profit by our situation, to bring back the Turks to 
their old sentiments of friendship for the French, 
and detach them from the English, or at least to pre- 
vent the two Emperors of Austria and Russia from 
concerting with each other the total dismembering of 
the Ottoman empire. The general-in-chief thought 
himself authorized to suppose that M. de Talleyrand, 
who had been appointed French Ambassador in Con- 
stantinople, had really departed for that metropolis, 
and had succeeded in maintaining his post there. 
In those circumstances it was important to correspond 
with him, and the best way appeared to be, to send 
M. Beauchamp to Constantinople; but it was neces- 
sary for him to escape the watchful eyes of the Eng- 
lish cruisers. General Bonaparte contrived, for that 
purpose, the following plan. The Turkish caravella 
which had come over to brin^^ the Sultan the yearly 
tribute from Egypt, was then riding at anchor in the 
port of Alexandria. The captain of that vessel was 
a man respected in his country, and he had with him 
his two sons. He received an order to carry M. 
Beauchamp to Constantinople, and to leave one of 
his sons in Alexandria as an hostage for the safe re- 
>turn of that gentleman to Egypt. The ostensible 
commission of the Consul was to require the release 
of all the Frenchmen who were detained in Syria, 
whether merchants or consular agents, and also of 
such military as had been made prisoners either in 
coming to Egypt or in returning to France. He was, 
in the course of his negotiation with the Grand Vizier, 
to insinuate that France would abandon Egypt, and 
make a treaty of friendship with Turkey, if the 
latter consented to give up all her connections with 
England; in which case, the French troops would 
join those of the Sultan, either to put an end to the 
war with the two Emperors by one common treaty, 
or to give him support, if peace should not take place. 
Unfortunately, M. Beauchamp was discovered by 
the English, and sent to the Seven Towers at Con- 
stantinople. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 47 

It was about this time that the plague began its ra- 
vages at Alexandria. I was ordered to accompany 
M. Beauchamp to that place, that I might superintend 
the preparations for his departure, and make a report 
to the general-in-chief on the state of the fortifica- 
tions there. When I arrived, I found General Mar- 
mont commanding the province and the whole sea- 
shore as far as Rosetta. " You arrive at an unfortunate 
moment," he said: " the plague has broken out yes- 
terday among our troops. It appears that the order 
given on our arrival at Alexandria, to burn the clothes 
of the persons who had died of the contagion, has 
been negligently executed. Some of the inhabitants 
have worn them again; and our troops being in close 
connection with them, the contact has spread the 
plague among the French, and I have been assured 
that it cannot fail soon to break out also among the 
Turks. Yesterday four Frenchmen died; there are 
eight sick to-day, who will probably be numbered 
with the dead to-morrow." 

All possible precautions had already been taken by 
General Marmont: the troops were lodged under 
tents, and all communication betwixt them and the 
inhabitants was prohibited. The most rigorous orders 
had also been issued, forbidding the battalions to 
which the sick belonged, to hold any connection with 
the others; but the carelessness of the soldiers de- 
stroyed all the good effects of these measures. They 
looked upon the plague as an enemy it was their duty 
to challenge; and the communication of the soldiers 
with each other continued, notwithstanding the se- 
verest discipline. My orders were to order Commis- 
sary Michaud from Rosetta to Alexandria: he came 
with a suite of ten persons, and lodged with us at 
General Marmont's. In the space of two days he was 
the only survivor of all those he had brought with 
him. One of his secretaries, named Renaud, left the 
hotel to go and sign some orders at the lodgings his 
master had taken in the city. The paper on which 
he wrote sufficed to communicate the disease to his 
blood. The next morning he sent word that he was 
not very well, and could not breakfast at the general's 
table. We went immediately to see him. He was 
still up; but his features already bore all the marks 



48 MEMOIRS OF 

of the fatal malady : his eye glazed, his tongue falter- 
ed, he had a profuse cold perspiration, and pains in 
his limbs. The physician who was called to visit 
him, just appeared at the door of his room, with a 
thick long stick in his hand. After having looked at 
him for a moment, he ordered hot water to be placed 
before him, and retired without administering any 
other remedy. The unfortunate young man begged 
us to get him ink and paper, that he might write to 
his family. In the afternoon he expired in great 
agony; so that his illness did not last above fifteen 
hours. 

The contagion soon assumed a most terrible aspect. 
All the physicians died successively; the overseers of 
the infirmaries went away, and it was no longer pos- 
sible to enter the hospitals with impunity. We were 
obliged to take Turks to nurse the sick, and to pay a 
very great price for their services; while the super- 
intendence over them was so relaxed, on account of 
the danger with which it was accompanied, that the 
most flagrant misconduct was not to be prevented. 
At General Marmont's lodgings we had been obliged 
to do without table-cloths or sheets; all our clothes 
were fumigated; the out-door servants had no con- 
nection with those of the interior. The carriage 
gateway" was nailed up; while every thing that was 
brought to the house from out of doors, and even the 
meat, was thrown through a wicket into a tub of 
water. With a view to avoid the infection among 
us, we divided ourselves into two brigades; and dur- 
ing the night we pursued each other from room to 
room, throwing water in our faces, which was the 
only ammunition we possessed. Among the few sol- 
diers who consented to nurse the sick, there was a 
gunner who had been in Constantinople, where he 
pretended that he had escaped the plague. Accord- 
ing to his assertion, he possessed an infallible pre- 
servative against the infection, which was, to keep 
his face and hands perpetually moistened with water. 
But it was discovered that he washed his hands in 
oil. Indeed, it had been observed in Cairo, that the 
lamp-lighters never caught the plague. After re- 
maining six weeks in the unfortunate city of Alex- 
andria, I received from the general-in-chief an order 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 49 

to return to Cairo, that I might accompany him in his 

campaign to Syria. 

The Arabs of the province of Damanhour, being 
well acquainted with the situation of our troops at 
Alexandria, took advantage of it to renew their 
depredations. I set off with an escort of thirty men, 
and two small cannons we had taken at Malta, and 
which General Marmont was kind enough to entrust 
to me, to increase my slender means of defence? but 
I was obhged, according to custom, to take under 
my protection a numerous caravan of peasants, women, 
and children, who profited by my departure to return 
to Damanhour and Ramanieh. We had scarcely ad- 
vanced two leagues when the Arabs began to hover 
about our flanks. The French infantry, which a few 
months before had not even courage enough to fly 
before the Arabs, so soon accustomed themselves to 
dare them, that 1 had the greatest trouble to prevent 
them from strolling about the plain for the purpose 
of firing at these enemies. Two or three Arabs were 
dismounted, and then, to put them completely to the 
rout, I had only to fire my two cannons at them. On 
my arrival in Cairo, the general-in-chief had already 
gone off. He had left the place two days before, 
leaving me an order to traverse the city in all direc- 
tions with the Police Aga, to know whether all was 
quiet. The Aga was at that time a Greek, called 
Barthelemi. He was accompanied by his guards, the 
executioner and his servant. We walked with a 
solemn pace, and at the sight of the Aga all the ped- 
lars in the streets, and those whose conscience was 
not quite clear, immediately disappeared. In the 
Rue du Petit Thouars, he stopped facing a coffee- 
house; and his stick-bearer, who walked before him, 
dragged along by force a man, to whom he addressed 
some questions. The poor fellow answered in great 
confusion. After reflecting for a moment, tlie Cadi 
slowly made a horizontal motion with his right-hand, 
and we gravely continued our walk. The gesture of 
the Cadi appeared singular to me. When we had 
got thirty steps farther, I turned round, and seeing a 
group of persons assembled before the coffee-house, 
I spurred my horse, and perceived with horror a 
mutilated corpse, and the executioner calmly putting 
5 



50 MEMOIRS OF 

a human head into his bag-. *• What's the meaning 
of this?" said I to the Cadi. — "Oh," answered he 
coolly, «* that fellow had a share in the rebellion of 
Cairo, and escaped my veng-eance." I insisted on 
his putting the whole affair regularly down in writ- 
ing, to be communicated to the general-in-chief. In 
all probability the unfortunate man was guilty; but I 
am convinced, that my presence, and the wish to give 
an example of severe justice, were the real causes of 
his death. For the rest, executions of this sort were 
not rare. The Cadi never went out but accompanied 
by the hangman. The smallest infraction of the 
police laws was punished by blows on the soles of 
the feet, — a punishment from which the women 
themselves were not exempted. 

Before we enter Syria, I think it will be well to 
give an account of the general's motives for tliat ex- 
pedition. 

It was absolutely necessary to ensure the conquest 
of Egypt by that of Syria, and especially by the pos- 
session of the maritime places. The two countries 
are dependent on each other, as well in regard to 
natural productions, as political connection. Egypt 
has no wood, and a part of Syria is covered with 
forests. The mutual exchanges extend even to many 
other productions. The Desert alone separates the 
two countries, and the necessity of establishing one 
or two forts at the entrance of the Desert is indispen- 
sable for the possession of Egypt. 

To these general considerations, at all times equally 
in force, must be added some particular circumstances 
which had just been created by policy. In declaring 
war against France the Sultan would launch out 
against us the whole armed population of Syria. The 
Pacha who commanded in that province, had a per- 
sonal interest in showing himself our foe: he would 
effect his reconciliation with the Porte by the services 
he might render her; he would draw a great deal of 
money out of the English, and find war the means of 
subduing, or at least removing, Ibrahim Bey, whose 
presence in Syria was disagreeable to him, and caused 
him even some anxiety. 

On the other hand, General Bonaparte wished to 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 51 

deprive the English of the means of communicating 
with and disembarking on an extent of coast eighty 
leagues in length. His intention was to make him- 
self master of the maritime places, and fortify them. 
He had hopes of drawing over to his party a conside- 
rable portion of the inhabitants of Syria, especially 
the Druses and Maronists, schismatic Mussulmans,* 
whose manners are at variance with those of the 
Turks, and who have no other connection with them 
but through the enormous taxes they are forced to 
pay, and the multifarious oppression under which 
they labour. Finally, he expected by that means to 
force the Porte to explain herself openly; for he was 
not yet acquainted with the declaration of war made 
by the Turks against France. He placed at the head 
of the expedition General Regnier as commander of 
the vanguard, and Generals Kleber, Bon, and Lannes, 
and Murat for the cavalry. 

He left in Egypt General Desaix vigorously pursu- 
ing Mourad Bey, and keeping in awe all the provinces 
of the Upper Nile as far as the Cataracts. General 
Dugua in Cairo commanded the Delta from Rosetta to 
Damietta. He had under his orders General Lanusse, 
whose courage and activity were sufficient to maintain 
peace in all those extensive provinces. The season 
was favourable for the expedition to Syria, which 
began in January 1799. 

The desert which divides Egypt from Syria, is eighty 
leagues in breadth. In that space of land is found the 
wells of Katisch, which were enclosed in a fort, that 
the army might not be without water. At two days' 
march beyond the wells is the fort of El-Arish, which 
contains better water than Katisch, but of which the 
enemy had already made himself master. We were 
forced to besiege it, and it was bravely defended by 
2000 Arnauls. They were however constrained to 
capitulate, after a vigorous attack of three days. In 
the treaty it was stipulated that they should go to Da- 
mascus; but the greater number among them threw 
themselves into Jaffa, of which place they augmented 
the garrison. We were obliged in consequence to 



* Here Count Lavallette has made a little mistake — 
The Maronists are Christians, and not Mussulmans. — 
{J^ote of the Translator.) 



52 MEMOIRS OF 

besiege the town.* Jaffa was taken by storm a few 
days after the first attack, and the Arnauts who had 
capitulated at El-Arish being forced within its walls, 
were, according to the European custom, shot for hav- 
ing violated the treaty. I was not at that time with 
the general-in-chief, having joined him only the day 
after the taking of Jaffa. 

From Jaffa the army marched to Caiffa; but the ene- 
my had abandoned that place, though it possessed a 
fort and strong walls. We left there a small post, and 
continued our way to St. John of Acre, near which 
city we arrived on the evening of the 27th of March. 
While the tents were being pitched, the general-in- 
chief was surprised to hear at sea a tolerably brisk can- 
nonading. I went by his orders to the shore, and soon 
perceived that the sound was becoming more distant, 
so that I feared it might be the announcement of some 
fatal event. 

On entering Syria, General Bonaparte had given or- 
ders to Marmont to send him by some brig the ammu- 
nition he should want for the sieges of the Syrian 
towns. Captain Standley, who commanded the frigate 
which was at the head of the expedition, neglected to 
inquire whether we were masters of Jaffa, on the walls 
of which place we had left the Turkish flag flying, to 
draw in the enemy's ships, which might bring us pro- 
visions, and news from sea. Standley, persuaded we 
were not at Jaffa, went in to St. John of Acre ; but 
Commodore Sir Sidney Smith, who was cruising before 
the port with a ship and frigate, gave him the chase 
and took a part of his vessels. This was the cause of 
the cannonading we heard; and General Bonaparte 

* When General Kleber left El-Arish to proceed to Kanjonnes 
he was led astray by his guides, who threw him much too far to 
the right in the desert. The general-in-chief followed him, not 
doubting that General Kleber had crossed the village ; and he was 
going to enter it, escorted only by his staff and tifty guides, when 
two horsemen, who foimr'd the vanguard, came back in full gallop, 
after having fired two pistols; and we discovered on the other side 
of the village the camp and cavalry of Abdallah Pasha, who ap- 
peared disposed to charge them. The army was two leagues behind. 
There was no possibility of standing against six hundred well- 
armed enemies, or of escaping if they had been pursued. Fortu- 
nately, the general, on this occasion, showed an instance of the 
admirable presence of mind he possessed. He ordered the com- 
mander of the detachment to draw up his men in a single line ; 
the enemy thought them more numerous than they really were, 
and after some moments' deliberation he came to a resolution of 
raising his camp and retreating. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 63 

was convinced, as well as myself, that the army had 
lost all its siege ammunition. The next day the army 
encamped to the north of St. John of Acre, and the 
general-in-chief stood during several hours on a height 
that commands St. John of Acre, at about half a league 
distant. The enemy, perceiving the staff, made trial 
of the skill of their gunners. The bombs fired with so 
much nicety, that one of them was buried in the 
ground, three paces from the general, between his two 
aides-de-camp. Merlin and Beauharnais, Another fell 
and burst at two feet from the soil, in the midst of a 
group of soldiers who were lying down and preparing 
their breakfast. There were eleven of them, and not 
one survived an instant. 

The town of St. John of Acre is situated on the 
point of a narrow slip of land, fortified towards the sea 
by batteries and a small light-house, and also protected 
by some pieces of cannon. On the land side it was en- 
closed by a high wall, divided by a tower on which 
some pieces of ordnance had been placed. The city 
was surrounded at a considerable distance by gardens, 
which being all enclosed with hedges of cactus, we 
had much trouble in repelling the riflemen who ha- 
rassed us from behind them. 

The traveller Volney, whom we had found so accu- 
rate in his description of Egj^pt, asserts that St. John 
of Acre is not surrounded with ditches. The assurance 
proved fatal to us in the beginning of the siege. Se- 
veral ofiicers of engineers confirmed us in our prepos- 
session, and particularly Colonel Sampson, who was 
wounded in his hand while fighting in a muddy rivulet 
he supposed to have been the fosse of the town. 

After we had fired ten days on the tower I have men- 
tioned, it was pierced, and the breach appeared large 
enough to lodge some miners with an officer of the 
staff. The troops made a movement to rush to the foot 
of the town ; but they were suddenly stopped by a 
ditch fifteen feet broad by ten or twelve deep, and 
lined with a good counterscarp. We were, in conse- 
quence, forced to establish a globe of compression to 
blow it up. The concussion took place, and young 
Mailly-Chateau-Renaud, an officer of the staff, received 
orders to enter the tower with four miners, to remain 
there during the night, and to pierce it, while the in- 
fantry endeavoured to make themselves masters of the 
ditch. The intrepid young officer and his men exe- 
cuted their orders ; but the enemy opened so strong a 
5* 



64 MEMOIRS OP 

fire on our troops, that they were forced to abandon the 
fosse. Mailly and his gunners were killed in the 
breach. 

The aide-de-camp Duroc had been sent an hour be- 
fore into the ditch, to discover the progress of the 
breach : a howitzer that burst, wounded him deeply in 
the thigh, and lamed him. The night falling in, we 
were constrained to give up the attack, and to wait 
until the arrival of a larger supply of artillery should 
furnish us with the means of making breaches on all 
sides; but just at that moment the general-in-chief 
heard that all his ammunition, all his artillery, sent 
from Alexandria, had been captured by Sir Sidney 
Smith ; while at the same time we learned the secret 
cause of the astonishing skill of the Turkish gunners. 

When, a few years before the period I am speaking 
of, General Aubert Dubayet was sent by the French 
Government to Constantinople as ambassador, he ob- 
tained leave to take with him a company of light artil- 
lery, to teach the Turks those parts of gunnery they 
were still unacquainted with, and especially all that 
concerned the letting off of bombs. This company had 
since returned to France, and part of them were in the 
besieging army, but their pupils were in the fortress ; 
so that Turkish bombardiers, instructed by French 
troops were sending us our own projectiles, of which 
they possessed about eighteen hundred, with four 
mortars. 

The trenches had not been regularly made, and the 
consequence of that negject was, that the soldiers, not 
being sufficiently covered, fell victims to our precipi- 
tation. General Caffarelli, commander of the engineers 
of the army, was himself struck by a bullet on his left 
elbow, and he lost his arm. He had already suffered 
the loss of a leg several years before, during the retreat 
of Jourdan. 

The Turks are wonderfully good soldiers behind a 
wall : we had more than one instance of that during 
the whole siege of St. John of Acre. It was al- 
most impossible for a Frenchman to show himself un- 
covered without being struck. The terrible fire of the 
besieged was supported by the batteries of Sir Sidney's 
ship Theseus, and his frigate. 

The labours of the siege soon grew more compli- 
cated. Sir Sidney Smith had with him a Frenchman 
named Phillippeaux, an emigrant, formerly a school- 
fellow ofGeneral Bonaparte, and an officer of engineers. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 65 

He raised two redoubts beyond the fosse, the batteries 
of which soon ranged along the branches of our 
trenches, and forced us to begin new works to change 
their direction.* 

The field-pieces being too weak to destroy the tower, 
we had recourse to mining ; but while we were work- 
ing with great activity and secrecy, we continued 
firing on the town. More than once we entertained 
the hope of gaining a footing in it and destroying it j 
but it was in vain tiaat our grenadiers and sappers en- 
deavoured several times to take possession of it. The 
part that looked towards the town continued to be oc- 
cupied by the besieged, who never ceased throwing on 
our troops howitzers, grenades, and even bombs, which 
made the post exceedingly dangerous. Notwithstand- 
ing all our eiforts, the two redoubts constructed by the 
enemy covered us with their fire every time our troops 
crossed the ditch to storm the tower. The officer of 
engineers, Phillippeaux, soon guessed we were making 
mines, and applied himself to destroy those we were 
laying under the ditch. In consequence, on the 18th 
Germinal, the enemy made a sortie with so much 
abruptness and violence, that a part of our trenches 
was destroyed. The enemy's columns were command- 
ed by intelligent English officers, one of whom reach- 
ed the entrance of the mine, where he was killed. The 
papers found on him informed us that his name was 
Captain Hatfield, and that he had been the first at the 
attack of the Cape of Good Hope. His fall occasioned 
some confusion among the troops he commanded, who 
soon after, being attacked with energy, hastily return- 
ed to the city, leaving a great many killed behind 
them. 



* I think I have mentioned that among the persons sent to St. 
John of Acre to carry proposals of peace to Djezzar Pacha, was a 
j'oung man, named Mailly de Chateau-Renaud, who had returned 
from Mascate with M. Bea;uchamp. This unfortunate young man 
was locked up in the light-house at Acre with about four hundred 
Christians he had collected on the coast of Syria. The day after 
the failure of the first storm, some soldiers who were in tire trenches 
mentioned to General Vial, then upon service, that in the sea-side 
might be seen a great many dead bodies rolled up like bales of rice 
or coftee. He went to look after them, and recognised poor young 
Chateau-Renaud, who had been strangled during the night. Thus 
the two brothers, who, after six years' absence, had met for a few 
hours at Cairo, were both killed at the same instant near St. John 
of Acre. 



56 MEMOIRS OF 

CHAPTER VI. 

While we were fighting under the walls of St. John 
of Acre, like the crusaders beyond the Jordan, Ibrahim 
Bey, the bearer of the orders of Djezzar Pacha, assem- 
bled all the Arabs of the mountains of Naplouse, and 
even of the environs of Damascus. The general-in- 
chief had taken the precaution to make himself mas- 
ter of the bridge of Jacoub and the port of Japhet. — 
The banks of the lake of Tabarieh were constantly 
overrun by the cavalry of General Murat. General 
Junot had posted himself at Loubi, near Naza- 
reth. He was soon attacked at a short distance from 
Gafarkala ; and, though he had only with him a part 
of the 2d regiment of light infantry, three companies 
of the 19th, and one hundred and fifty dragoons, he did 
not hesitate to dare the charge of above three thousand 
horsemen. Notwithstanding all the efforts of the ene- 
my, he succeeded in reaching the heights of Nazareth 
without having been routed ; and after eight hours of 
the most desperate fighting, he forced the enemy to a 
temporary retreat. This glorious defence made the 
general-in-chief feel the necessity of terminating, once 
for all, the annoyance of these dangerous enemies, 
whose plan was no less than to come and attack him 
under the walls of St. John of Acre. He sent General 
Kleber against them, and a few days afterwards he 
marched himself to the support of Junot and Kleber 
with the rest of his cavalry, the division of General 
Bon, and eight pieces of artillery. He directed his way 
rowards Fouli. At nine o'clock in the morning he had 
teached the last heights, whence the prospect extends 
three leagues over the plain bounded by Mount Tha- 
bor. From thence we perceived the squares of Gene- 
ral Kleber, presenting a black line, surrounded and 
pressed by an enormous mass of cavalry, which, at 
three leagues distance, had all the appearance of an 
ant-hill. Sometimes the French line disappeared, and 
we thought it destroyed ; then it showed itself again, 
covered by its own fire, during some minutes. The 
general-in-chief began by throwing his cavalry on the 
heights to his right, where the camp of the Mamelukes 
had been established, and which we found deserted. 
He thus formed two squares of infantry, and made his 
arrangements so as to turn the enemy at a great dis- 
tance. When he arrived at within a half a league of 
General Kleber, he sent to him General Rampon, at 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 57 

the head of the 32d half brigade ; and as soon as that 
troop had begun to inarch, he made known his pre- 
sence by firing a twelve-pounder. The effect was thea- 
trical. At the same instant we saw General Kleber, 
quitting his defensive attitude, advancing upon the 
village of Fouli, of which he made himself master, and 
the enemy flying in all directions. But on one side 
the enemy found before him General Rampon, while 
General Vial had cut off his retreat to the mountains 
of Naplouse, and General Murat was waiting for him 
at the bridge of Jacoub. The guides on foot attacked 
him near Jenin ; so that his only resource was to fly 
behind Mount Thabor, from whence, during the night, 
he reached Elmekanieh, and further up the Jordan, 
where a great number were drowned in attempting to 
cross the liver. 

After the battle the general-in-chief went to sleep 
at Nazareth. This small place is situated a good way 
within the mountains, in a very picturesque situation, 
between two groves, one of sycamore and the other of 
date-trees : the chief part of the inhabitants are Chris- 
tians. Before Bonaparte entered the village he stopped 
near an ancient fountain, where a considerable num- 
ber of cattle were drinking. The elders of the village 
stood there waiting for the general-in-chief: the 
whole scene recalled to memory the patriarchal times 
so beautifully described in the Bible. The French 
were received with great demonstrations of joy, and 
General Bonaparte went with his staff to pass the 
night at the convent of Nazareth. 

This convent was evidently built in the time of the 
Crusades : the edifice is not very large. Next morn- 
ing the general-in-chief asked the superior to conduct 
him to the church, which resembles our village 
churches, and contains nothing remarkable but the 
chapel, which was once, they say, the bed-chamber of 
the Virgin Mary. It is below the chief altar, and a few 
very broad steps descend to it. An altar fills the place 
of the bed; and being cut out of the rock, it is no more 
than seven feet in height. The superior, who was a 
Spaniard, but spoke very good Italian, made us ob- 
serve on the left side of the altar a pillar of black mar- 
ble, the shaft of which touched the ceiling, while its 
basement was broken off some feet from the ground, 
which made it appear suspended. The prior told us, 
in the gravest manner possible, that when the angel 



58 MEMOIRS OF 

Gabriel came to announce to the Virgin her glorious 
and holy destination, he touched the pillar with his 
heel and broke it in two. We burst out a-laughing ; 
but General Bonaparte, looking severely at us, made 
us resume our gravity. Along the cloisters were ly- 
ing about thirty men who had been wounded on the 
preceding day ; several of them had just expired, and 
these latter had nearly all received from the monks the 
last comforts of religion. This was probably done at 
the instigation of these pious cenobites ; for, at that 
period, the French troops were very foreign to any re- 
ligious feeling. Neither the aspect of the country 
wherein they fought, nor the names of most of those 
places which had been familiar to them during their 
infancy, (nearly all of them being born between the 
years 1775 and 1780,) seemed capable of recalling to 
their memory the sentiments and recollections of their 
youth. 

At Nazareth we lost a man who had been most use- 
ful to General Bonaparte and the army ; namely, M. 
Venture, first interpreter to the general-in-chief. 
This old man had passed all his life in the East, and 
his wandering life had produced a strange mixture of 
nations in his family ; his wife being a Greek, his 
daughter an Egyptian, and his son-in-law a Pole.* He 
was very much regretted, but his place was adequately 
filled up by M. Jaubert, his pupil, who, notwithstand- 
ing his numerous and perilous voyages, still lives for 
his friends and the sciences 

We returned to St. John of Acre, and on our arrival 
before the town the general-in-chief finally learned 
that Rear-Admiral Duperrie had put on shore at Jaffa 
three four-and-twenty, and six eighteen pounders, and 
the necessary ammunition. The works of the mine 
were continued, and on the 5th Floreal it was decided 
to spring it. All the batteries began to play upon the 
enemy, in order to deceive him, and fire was set to the 
mine ; but a vault that existed in the tower presented 

* I was present at Venture's departure from Paris. He travel- 
led in the same coach with Colonel Sulkovvsky. His wife and 
daughter were bathed in tears, convinced by I Itnovv not what 
omen, that neither of them would come bacl?. After an hour's 
grief they began to be comforied, when the two travellers suddenly 
re-appeared. Their coach had broken down near the bariier. I 
expected fresh lamentations; but, to my great astonishment, they 
felt the greatest joy at the accident that had occurred, and for the 
same reason their grief was so much stronger when they heard of 
their death. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 69 

a line of slight resistance. One side only was destroy- 
ed : it remained, however, in a state of breach. This 
breach was as difficult to reach as it had been before. 
We were therefore obliged to begin battering afresh 
the curtain and the tower. The attack of the bth was 
more murderous than the former, and still without 
success. Four hundred men remained during six 
hours in the breach that looked towards the ditch ; the 
enemy, posted on the reverse, continued throwing in- 
cessantly burning projectiles into the midst of that 
mass of men, who were unable to advance, and still 
would not consent to go down. At last the break of 
day rendered visible the most horrible disorder, and a 
position which could not possibly be maintained ; we 
were again obliged to abandon the tower. We had 
lost an enormous number of officers, especially among 
the engineers : General Caffarelli, who had the com- 
mand of the engineers, showed some signs of reco- 
very; but he every day asked why his comrades came 
no longer to see him. Though the utmost care was 
taken to conceal from him the fatal news of their death, 
grief and anxiety augmented his sufferings. He some- 
times said to me, " It was I who seduced, — I who led 
on all these hopeful young men. Alas ! that they 
should have fallen before such a wretched fortress !" 
Finally, the death of young Say, the chief of his staff, 
which could not be kept a secret from him, threw him 
into a deep melancholy, and he died soon after. 

He was not regretted by the army alone. To exten- 
4 sive information, Caffarelli added great feeling and a 
mildness of disposition, that will make his memory 
dear to all those who knew him. He would certainly 
have acted a very important part under the Empire ; 
for General Bonaparte had great esteem and venera- 
tion for him. 

The army had already stormed the city twelve times, 
and withstood twenty-six sorties, when General Kle- 
ber and his division were recalled to camp. A new 
mine had been opened, and we were already on the 
point of charging it, when the enemy once more gave 
vent to it : notwithstanding all our efforts, he reached 
the branch; so that we were obliged to make our 
miners retire precipitately out of the mine, and stop it 
up by explosion. This circumstance was the more 
fatal, as by it we lost all hopes of making ourselves 
masters of the town by that means. We had to return 



60 MEMOIRS OF 

to cannonading, which also speedily relaxed, the gun- 
powder we expected from Gaza not having arrived. 
On the next day, however, we received a sufficient 
quantity : the courage of the soldiers increased ; and 
when they heard that the division of Kleber was com- 
ing, the whole camp went to meet it, with congratula- 
tions and prophecies that the honour of taking the 
town would belong to the new comers. The batteries 
had destroyed a great part of the curtain, which pre- 
sented a space wide enough to mount for an assault. 
The grenadiers of Kleber's division received that ho- 
nourable though perilous commission ; but just as they 
were descending into the ditch in order to cross it, 
the enemy opened on their flank a tremendous fire 
from the two sides. The grenadiers, however, pene- 
trated into the town ; but when there, they were fired 
upon from all the sides of a large square, and from the 
Palace of Djezzar. The difficulty of climbing up the 
breach prevented our soldiers from rushing easily into 
this new circle : the bravest among them were killed : 
the rest hesitated. It became necessary to lead the 
troops back into the trenches. 

The general-in-chief could not resolve to order the 
fourteenth assault ; but the grenadiers and most of the 
officers who had already been in the town, insisted in 
so pressing a manner for leave to go up once more, 
that the general-in-chief, after having got the breach 
widened, let them advance again. General Kleber 
placed himself on the reverse of the fosse, where, 
sword in hand, he animated his troops with his stento- 
rian voice, amidst the dead and the dying. On look- 
ing on that gigantic figure, a whole head taller than 
the rest of the soldiers, one might have taken him for 
one of the heroes of Homer. The noise and smoke of 
the cannon, — the cries of the soldiers, — the roaring of 
the Turks, — our troops rushing on the enemy, made 
our hearts beat with enthusiasm. Nobody doubted 
but the town would be taken ; when suddenly the 
column stopped. General Bonaparte had placed him- 
self in the breach battery, to examine once more the 
movements of the army. He had fixed the glass be- 
tween the fascines of the battery, when a ball from the 
town struck the superior fascine ; and the general-in- 
chief fell into the arms of General Berthier. We 
thought him killed ; but fortunately he had not been 
touched ; his fall was only an effect of the commotion 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 61 

of the air. In vain General Berthier pressed liim to 
retire : he received one of those harsh and dry replies, 
after which no one dared insist. While we were ex- 
amining the singular absence of all motion on the part 
of the troops, a bullet entered the head of young Arri- 
ghi, who was standing between the gene^al-in-chief 
and me. Some others were killed afterwaras, General 
Bonaparte still refusing to retire. At last we learned 
what was the obstacle that prevented the troops from 
advancing. In the interval between the two assaults, 
the enemy had filled up a wide ditch with all sorts of 
inflammable matter, so that repeated and terrible ex- 
plosions killed all those that came near it. It was 
too broad to be crossed : there were no means of 
turning it ; and our soldiers stood before that insur- 
mountable obstacle, enraged at not being able to ad- 
vance, and still resolved not to go back. Several gene- 
rals were wounded, and a great number of officers and 
soldiers killed. We lost the general of the division, 
Bon, the Adjutant-general Fouler, and Croisier, aide- 
de-camp to the general-in-chief. 

To continue the siege would have been paying too 
dearly for the conquest of a city already ravaged by 
the plague. The disease had been brought to the camp 
by the second light demi-brigrade that had caught it 
at Damietta. The army had also found it at Jaffa ; 
and though it was not marked here by those terrible 
symptoms it had shown at Alexandria, and went under 
the name of a benign plague, it still swept away many 
victims, and would undoubtedly have cost us more 
men still, if we had taken St. John of Acre. 

General Bonaparte felt convinced that that fever 
was really the plague ; the physician-in-chief, Des- 
genettes, alleged on the contrary, that it was nothing 
more than a common fever. His opinion and argu- 
ments served to tranquillize the soldiers ; but they had 
one bad effect, — that of disposing them to neglect the 
caution necessary in all contagious diseases. He 
wished, however, to add practical demonstration to his 
arguments by inoculating himself with the plague. In 
the middle of the hospital, and in the presence of all 
the sick, he plunged a lancet into the bubo of one of 
the patients, and pricked himself with it in his lefl 
side. This act, which was the most courageous, as he 
afterwards acknowledged that the disease had really 
all the characteristics of the plague, excited the admi- 
6 



62 MEMOIRS OP 

ration of the whole army, and insured to the physician 
lasting glory with posterity. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The general-in-chief formed the resolution of re- 
turning to Egypt. The favourable season for landing 
approached, and he had received advice that the 
English, united with the Turks, were to attempt one 
in Lower Egypt, Measures were immediately taken 
for sending away the sick, and provisioning El Arisch 
and Katisch, All the posts were drawn back, and in 
the night of our departure the brigade that was on ser- 
vice in the trenches gradually evacuated the artillery, 
and only set off themselves the next day, protecting 
all they had before them, and protected in their turn 
by the cavalry. The invalids, who were eighteen 
hundred in number, and who had all been wounded by 
fire-arms, were placed in the centre of the divisions to 
which they belonged ; and as there were no means of 
transport, all the saddle horses, and even all the asses, 
which the soldiers had in use when they came to Syria, 
to carry water and provisions, served on our return to 
bear the wounded. But when they arrived at Jaffa, 
the soldiers, seeing before them the terrible Desert, 
and aware of what they must suffer in crossing it with- 
out water, began first to complain, and then broke out 
into mutiny. It was on this occasion that General 
Bonaparte gave up all his horses, without even keep- 
ing one for his private use. The master of his stables 
having had the imprudence to supplicate in favour of 
the beloved mare of the general, he put himself in 
such a passion, that for the first time in my life I saw 
him strike a man. In his rage he went up to him, and 
whipped him across the body. 

I must here say a few words on an odious imputa- 
tion made long since against General Bonaparte, — 1 
mean, the pretended poisoning of the soldiers sick of 
the plague. 

It is so contrary to truth that General Bonaparte 
proposed to poison the unfortunate men, that M. 
Larry, first surgeon to the army, never ceased to pro- 
nounce it an atrocious calumny ; and he several times, 
in the last fifteen years, pressed M. Desgenettes to de- 
clare publicly with him the fact through the medium 
of the press. The latter, having been ill used by the 
King's government, recoiled probably at the thought 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 63 

of a declaration which might make his situation still 
more painful. It is, besides, impossible to name any 
person to whom the proposal should have been made. 
Finally, the calumny was spread by the English while 
they were in Egypt, and propagated by a writing of 
Sir Robert Wilson, who was then extremely young, 
and who in maturer age has openly declared that he 
had been mistaken.* 

When in our return from St. John of Acre, we stop- 
ped at Jaffa, where the plague had ceased its ravages, 
I received from the general-in-chief an order to go 
through the numerous gardens that surround the town, 
and where a sort of Lazaretto had been established for 
the sick, that we might take along with us all that 
were not too ill to follow the army. I found five or 
six poor soldiers lying beneath the trees ; when they 
saw me, they cried out, " Pray, Commander, take us 
with you ! We are still able to bear the march." I 
replied, " Try to get up; endeavour to walk." But 
all the symptoms of the plague were already evident. 
Not one of them could rise, and 1 was obliged to leave 
them, for no soldier would have lent them his aid. I 
went and made my report to General Bonaparte, who 
was walking on the sea-shore. He listened to me with- 
out stopping, and we came up to a young horseman, 
who asked also to be taken with us, and who succeed- 
ed in rising from the ground. The general, touched 
with compassion, ordered one of his guides to give his 
horse to the poor sick man. Neither the authority of 
the general, nor the fear of punishment, was sufficient 
to enforce obedience. The colonel of the guides 
was obliged to go up to him, and promise him in a 
whisper a great deal of money, which motive was the 
only one by which he was brought to a decision ; and 
even then the colonel was forced to use the greatest 
vigilance lest the sick man should be thrown from his 
horse. I believe he remained at El Arisch, and 1 do 
not know what became of him. As for the poor sol- 
diers I mentioned, it is to be hoped, they died in the 
course of the night, or at least the following day, so as 
to have escaped from the cruel death the Arabs pre- 
pared for all those who fell into their hands. I feel no 
remorse for my conduct on that occasion. All I had 



* See the Memoirs of Bourrienne.— (JVofe of the Translator.) 



64 MEMOIRS OF 

seen of the plague at Alexandria, had convinced me 
that it is a fatal humanity that induces people to come 
in contact with the infected, when they are once ar- 
rived at the last stage of the disease. Nevertheless, 1 
cannot think of those unfortunate men without pain; 
and if it had been possible to save them, I would have 
done it. 

The army carried with it eighteen hundred wound- 
ed men. We had succeeded in constructing about 
twenty litters for the general officers, such as Lannes 
,and Veaux, Duioc and Croisier : the two latter were 
aides-de-camp of the general-in-chief. Croisier died 
in the Desert. The infected that could not bear a long 
journey were deposited at El Arisch, but placed with- 
out the fort, under the protection of a detachment of 
infantry that was to defend them against the attacks 
of the Arabs. Several of them recovered, and in par- 
ticular I may name young Captain Digeon, who com- 
manded the breach battery during the whole siege : 
he was a most intrepid officer, and fortune spared him. 
He is now a lieutenant-general. We lost very few of 
our wounded while crossing the Desert, and the army 
made with great eclat its entrance into the capital of 
Egypt. 

This Syrian campaign has been judged with great 
severity by our enemies ; and during the reign of the 
Emperor it was not allowed to speak impartially of its 
result. It was undoubtedly indispensable to enter into 
Syria to repel Ibrahim Bey and the troops which Djez- 
zar Pacha was preparing to launch against Egypt. 
The operations were conducted with great skill. The 
failure of St. John of Acre must only be attributed to 
some fatal circumstances independent of the general- 
in-chief; but we must not therefore conclude with Ge- 
neral Berthier, that the French army really gained all 
the advantages it expected to reap in Syria. We lost in 
that province three thousand men, several skilful ge- 
nerals and hopeful officers ; and we were obliged to 
abandon the towns we had taken. In quitting Syria, 
we left the country just as it was before we entered it. 
Barren victories must not be looked upon as real ad- 
vantages ; and if General Bonaparte had remained in 
Egypt, he would undoubtedly have beaten the Grand 
Vizier when he came the following year to drive us 
out of Egypt, and repulsed the English, who had taken 
Aboukir. But most certainly he could not have begun 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 65 

the campaign of Syria over again, having no means of 
receiving supplies from France ; so that he would with 
difficulty have been able to maintain himself some 
years longer in Egypt. 

During the campaign of Syria, General Desaix had 
succeeded in keeping quiet possession of Upper Egypt, 
and reducing Mourad Bey to the condition of a fugi- 
tive. Lower Egypt had been the scene of many trou- 
bles, occasioned by a sort of fanatic who styled himself 
the Angel El Mahade ; but General Lanusse pursued 
him with so much vigour, that he soon destroyed the 
troops he had collected. 

The landing season was fast approaching. The ge- 
neral-in-chief did not wish to leave Cairo. He there- 
lore resumed the administration of the country : he 
busied himself with filling up the vacant places in the 
army and completing the cor^s. He had posted him- 
self with apart of his cavalry near the pyramids, wait- 
ing for the accounts General Desaix would transmit 
him respecting Mourad Bey, whom that general was 
pursuing in his last entrenchment, and who it was 
supposed would throw himself into the Oases that are 
situated at a short distance from the pyramids. 

It is a well-known fact that the great pyramid had 
been opened several centuries ago by the Arabs. 
General Bonaparte resolved to visit the interior of 
that structure with Messrs. Monge, Berthollet, and 
Duroc. I only mention this circumstance because his 
name has been written in the great gallery leading to 
the chamber called the king's chamber. He had 
scarcely come out of the pyramid, when an express 
sent off by General Marmont, who commanded at 
Alexandria, brought him tidings of the landing of a 
Turkish army at Aboukir, where they had made them- 
selves masters of the great redoubt and of the fort, 
after having massacred our soldiers that defended them. 
The attack was quite unexpected, and the Turkish 
army was so numerous, that General Marmont had 
not thought fit to march against them at the head of 
his garrison, for fear he might not be able to prevent 
their disembarking, and might moreover endanger the 
city of Alexandria, the fortifications of which were not 
yet completed, and which besides contained all the re- 
sources we possessed in artillery and ammunition. 

It was to be expected that after the enemy had taken 
the fort, he would spread about the country and attack 
6* 



66 MEMOIES OF 

either Alexandria or Rosetta. Instead of that, he 
fortified himself in the peninsula of Aboukir, evidently 
waiting for Mourad Bey, with whose desperate con- 
dition he was not yet acquainted. 

General Bonaparte resolved, therefore, to march 
rapidly against him. The distance from the pyramid 
to Aboukir is more than eighty leagues. On the 
fourth day the army arrived at Alexandria ; on the 7th 
of Thermidor it was assembled within a league of 
Aboukir, under the orders of the division Generals 
Lannes and Lanusse, and Murat for the cavalry. The 
enemy was entrenched in front of Aboukir, on the 
sandy hillocks of which he had made redoubts, and 
under the protection of the English gun-boats. His 
force consisted of about seventeen thousand men, with 
twelve pieces of cannon. The general quickly made 
his dispositions, and ordered General Dastaneg to at- 
tack the enemy's left, which he put to flight after a 
long resistance. The Turks fled towards the village 
of Aboukir ; but a part of the cavalry, that was in the 
centre, pursued them, sabred and drove theim into the 
sea. The right of the enemy was attacked with equal 
vigour. The division of Lannes made themselves 
masters of the redoubt, which being turned by a squad- 
ron of cavalry, the Turks had no other resource left 
but to throw themselves into the sea. It was a hor- 
rible sight to contemplate nearly ten thousand men, of 
whom nothing was to be seen but their heads covered 
with turbans, and who were seeking in vain to reach 
the English fleet, anchored at more than half a league 
from the shore. Two thousand men had sought a 
refuge on the strand, at the foot of a rock that covered 
them. It was impossible to make them comprehend 
that they might surrender by laying down their arms. 
We were obliged to kill them all to a man, but they sold 
dearly their lives. General Murat was wounded by a 
bullet in his head ; Guibert, aide-de-c^mp to the gene- 
ral-in-chief, was killed, and the corps of engineers, that 
had already suffered so severely, lost Colonel Cretin, 
who had succeeded to the post of General Caffarelli. 
Wounded by two bullets, the colonel was lying before 
the door of a house in the village occupied by the 
Turks. Eight persons had already been killed or 
wounded in seeking to get him away. Bertrand, who 
was at that time a major of engineers, devoted himself 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 67 

to save his commander: he rushed into the house, fol- 
lowed by twenty sappers, and succeeded in killing 
every one of the Turks; but he was severely wounded, 
and Colonel Cretin did not survive the injuries he had 
suffered. 

After the victory was gained, the fort of Aboukir 
still remained to be taken. General Lannes, who was ' 
not yet recovered from the wounds he had received at 
St. John of Acre, got the command of the troops that 
were to invest the place. I was with him. The day 
after the departure of the general-in-chief, I accom- 
panied General Lannes on a visit to the posts, when a 
furious sortie of Turkish troops surprised our advanced 
posts, and the unfortunate general received a bullet in 
his leg. It was the eighth wound he got from fire-arms. 
Fortunately the enemy had no water in the fort of 
Aboukir, so that he surrendered four days after the 
battle. 

During the short stay of the general-in-chief at 
Aboukir, he had some communications with Sir Sidney 
Smith, by the medium of his secretary. We had not 
received for a long time any news from Europe, and 
the English commodore took a malicious pleasure in 
acquainting us, by the newspapers, of the situation of 
the republic. We learned that the whole south of Italy 
was evacuated, that war was waging on the frontiers 
of Piedmont, and that France was in the most despe- 
rate condition. General Bonaparte took great care 
not to let the army know these dismal accounts ; but, 
from that moment, he resolved to return to Europe, 
convinced that he alone was capable of repairing the 
evils the bad government of the Directory had accu- 
mulated on the country. 

After the surrender of the fort of Aboukir, the de- 
fence of which had only lasted four days, General 
Bonaparte went back to Cairo ; but not before he had 
given secret orders to General Gantheaume, who com- 
manded the marine at Alexandria, to arm and pro- 
vision the two frigates Muiron and Carrere. He then 
spread the report that he was going to travel to 
Upper Egypt, but that he would perhaps first take a 
trip in the Delta. The news of his intended journey 
put every body on the alert, in the expectation q^ re- 
ceiving his praises. He spent a fortnight in reguMing 
once more the administration of Egypt, provisioning 



68 MEMOIRS OF 

its strong places, and writing the grand Vizier; and 
when all his measures were duly taken, he went down 
the Nile again, after having appointed General 
Kleber to meet him near Alexandria, that he might 
deliver over the command into his hands ; but that 
general not having arrived in time, his despatches 
were sent to him ; and, at ten o'clock at night, 
the general-in-chief, accompanied hy his staff, and 
leaving his horses on the shore, embarked on board 
the Muiron. He took with him Generals Berthier and 
Gantheaume, Messrs. Monge and Bertholet, his aides- 
de-camp, Eugene Beauharnais, Duroc, Merli^ and 
his private secretary. In the frigate Carrere went 
Generals Lannes and Murat, both wounded, Mar- 
mont, Messrs. Denon, Castas, and Farseval-Grand- 
maison. The scientific commission had been for some 
months in Upper Egypt. 

Our passage presented many difficulties. The sec- 
retary of Sir Sidney Smith, in a conversation with me, 
had allowed the observation to escape, that there was 
a great advantage in blockading out of sight. We 
were therefore to expect that we should find the 
English commodore in our way. In that case, the 
frigate Carerre had received orders to engage, so as to 
give the Muiron time to escape. But both the frigates 
were Venetian-built ships, and very bad sailers; it 
became therefore necessary to make use of some 
stratagem to avoid being seen. Admiral Gantheaume 
thought the best way would be to run, for thirty days, 
along the flat shores of Africa, where no ships recon- 
noitre, and to make short tacks of half a league, with- 
out ever standing far out to sea. The time appeared 
very long to us all; for it would have been imprudent to 
keep a light at night, so that we were obliged to go to bed 
with the sun. Our days were spent in reading, or dis- 
cussing various topics ; the inexhaustible information 
of our two learned travelling companions filled up our 
time in a very agreeable manner. Plutarch frequently 
came to our assistance; and sometimes, during our 
long evenings, the general-in-chief would tell us 
ghost stories, in which he was very clever. The situ- 
ation of France, and the future state of the country, 
were often the subjects of his reflections. He never 
mentioned the government of the Directory but with a 
degree of severity that savoured of contempt. In the 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 69 

meanwhile his conversation never betrayed what he 
intended to do ; though some words that escaped him, 
some musingSj and some indirect insinuations, gave a 
wide scope to our surmises. His administration in 
Egypt had been pure, his operations full of genius; 
but was that enough to clear him in the eyes of a go- 
vernment that feared him, and was far from wishing 
well to him? He would be obliged to make war ; but 
could he submit to the plans of a government deprived of 
military knowledge, that might place him in an awk- 
ward situation, and give his rivals means of success, 
which they would refuse to allow him? These differ- 
ent ideas made him very thoughtful. 

At last the east wind began to blow in a constant 
manner. We passed Cape Bone during the night, and 
we arrived speedily at Ajaccio. This little town is the 
birth-place of the general-in-chief: he had left it eight 
years before, when he was only a captain of artillery. 
At the sight of this place his heart was deeply affected. 
Coming from Egypt, where the plague still prevailed, 
it was impossible for us to enter the port. The in- 
habitants, surprised to see the admiral's flag hoisted 
on the main-mast, rushed towards the shore ; but when 
they learned that their illustrious countryman was on 
board, his old friends and relations threw themselves 
into a number of boats, came on board the frigate, and 
broke through the quarantine. There was however 
no great danger, for after forty-four days' navigation 
we had not one sick person on board. Among the 
crowd that was bustling round the state cabin there 
was an old woman dressed in black, v/ho continually 
held up her hands to the general, saying, '■'■Caro Jiglio!''^ 
without being able to attract his notice. At last he 
perceived her, and cried out " Madre .'" — It was his 
nurse, who is still living at the moment I write this. 

The generai-in-chief learned here, though in a con- 
fused manner, what had happened in France during 
his absence. Italy was lost, and Massena continued 
fighting like a lion in Switzerland. In the interior the 
confusion had been very great, Treilhard and Merlin 
were no longer members of the Directory ; their places 
were occupied by the lawyer Gohier and General 
Moulin. On hearing the latter name, the general-in- 
chief turned to Berthier and said, " who is this General 
Moulin ?" " I never heard his name mentioned be- 



70 MEMOIRS OF 

fore," answered Berthier. General Bonaparte put the 
same question to all of us, and received the same answer. 
That man's nomination caused him to reflect deeply. 
Astonished not to see any of the authorities from the 
land, he soon learned that the members of the muni- 
cipality, and those of the departrtiental Directory, had 
sent each other to prison. The commissary of the 
government, a stranger to the country, was sole mas- 
ter in that state of confusion. The cabinet revolution 
had soon become known at Ajaccio, and the different 
parties found it the most natural thing in the world to 
persecute one another. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
It was necessary to re-establish some order in the 
midst of so much anarchy. In consequence, the 
general-in-chief went to his own house, sent for the 
magistrates, whom he delivered out of prison, exhorted 
them to peace and concord, and the next morning the 
two frigates left the port, sailing in the direction of 
the Isles of Hyeres. The whole of the first day our 
navigation was very favourable. We perceived already 
the hills of Provence, and our joy at returning to our 
dear country was carried to its highest pitch, when 
the sailor who was on the look-out said that he espied 
two large ships in the west. They could be no other 
than enemy's ships, and soon several discharges of 
cannon seemed to indicate that they had discovered 
us. The general-in-chief called a council, and the 
universal opinion, — even that of the admiral, — was, 
that General Bonaparte had nothing else to do than 
to throw himself into the post-bnat that accompanied 
us and return to Ajaccio. He was indignant at such 
advice. "Do you think," said he, "that I can con- 
sent to run away like a coward, when fortune has 
never ceased to favour me? Let us continue our 
course. My destiny is not to be taken and die here." 
So we went on; but instead of steering, as we had 
done till then, in the direction of the Isles of Hyeres, 
we resolved to go to Fiejus. The general-in-chief had 
judged rightly. The enemy, whom we distinguished 
with facility, because they were under the setting sun, 
could not perceive us, because we were in the shade. 
After standing on the whole night, the two frigates 
reached the roads of Frejus. The sanitary establish- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 71 

ment was situated at about a quarter of a league from 
the town. An officer of the frigate went towards the 
shore in a boat. We distinguished liini perfectly well. 
Some men came to meet him ; but after a few minutes 
we perceived a great confusion : some people ran to- 
wards the town, and soon after the strand was covered 
with an immense multitude of persons. The boats 
were filled, and as at Ajaccio, a number of men rushed 
on board the ship through the port-holes. The cries 
of " Long live Bonaparte !" resounded all over the 
country. A white horse was brought for him, and he 
went to the house of a brother of the Abbe Sieyes, 
who lived at Frejus. The sentiments that animated 
the whole population were expressed in a manner that 
did not leave even the shadow of a doubt. "You 
alone can save France," was the universal cry. " She'll 
perish but for you : it is heaven that sent you ; seize 
the reins of government I" His journey to Lyons 
was a triumphal march. We arrived in that city 
at seven o'clock in the morning. His having landed 
was already known, and his arrival wished for with an 
ardour impossible to describe. Lyons was still fa- 
mous for its antipathy to the republican government, 
and we imagined that the general would not stop; but 
to our great astonishment he declared that he intended 
to spend the remainder of the day there. He received 
all the authorities and most distinguished citizens ; 
without explaining himself, however, on the direct in- 
sinuations that were made to him for him to place 
himself at the head of the government, but receiving 
with a cold severity the republicans that had organized 
a constitutional club, and who came to congratulate 
him. He had been invited to go to the theatre of the 
Celeslins, where a piece and a song had been prepared 
for the occasion. He chose one of the boxes on a level 
with the pit; and Duroc having, by his order, placed 
himself in the front of the box, the call for Bonaparte 
grew so violent and so unanimous, that thegeneral-in- 
chief was obliged to change places with him during 
the whole representation. 

Towards midnight he set off, and passed through 
the Bourbonnais, v/ishing to avoid Macon, where the 
republican club had exasperated the aristocratic classes. 
From the very first day of his arrival at Paris, the 
general-in-chief applied himself to avoid the eyes of 



72 MEMOIRS OF 

the multitude, who were so desirous of seeing him, 
and expressing their enthusiasm. His interview with 
the Directory was cold and unceremonious. Tlie 
members that composed it at that time were Barras, 
General Moulin, and Gohier, who shared the same 
sentiments ; Sieyes and Roger Ducos were in the op- 
position. It was said at that time that the two latter, 
desparing of being able to maintain the republican 
system, and wishing to prevent at any rate the re-es- 
tablishment of the Bourbons in France, had cast their 
eyes on a prince of the house of Spain, whose powder 
would have been circumscribed in such narrow limits, 
that liberty and all the principles of the revolution would 
have been in safety. Whatever may be the truth 
of that anecdote, it is however certain that these tv.o 
Directors, when they explained to General Bonaparte 
the disposition of the people's minds and the impossi- 
bility of continuing any longer under the directorial 
form of government, entreated him to put himself at 
the head of an insurrection that might overthrow it. 
A feeling of affection that the general had preserved 
for Barras persuaded him to make some indirect over- 
tures to that Director to draw him into his party. 
Barras refused, either because he had entered into 
secret engagements with the house ofBourbon, or rather 
by a want of enlightened views, and by the republican 
sentiments he could not decide to give up. 

It became therefore necessary to do without him, 
and, moreover, to take a speedy resolution. France 
was oppressed by the expenses of the war, and disgusted 
with a violent government, which perceiving that its 
enemies were augmented from day to day, and w^ishing 
to place in the same predicament the disaffected, that 
its administration created, with its inveterate enemies 
of the aristocratic classes and the families of the emi- 
grants, loaded all indiscriminately with the same 
rigour. The fear of the influence of the emigrants, 
and of a return to a monarchical system, made the 
directors lean towards those rigorous measures that 
had caused the success of the committee of public 
welfare, and most of their acts bore the marks of these 
measures. Their partisans, that were no longer to be 
found any where else than among a part of the public 
officers, were perpetually exciting their anxiety on the 
spirit of the army ; and General Bonaparte, in particu- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 73 

lar, inspired them with alarms that could not fail soon 
to produce a violent attack against him. These par- 
tisans of the Directory formed, nevertheless, every- 
where a minority, and especially in the two councils ; 
but their activity and their audacious spirit compen- 
sated for the smallness of their numbers. The general- 
in-chief arrived on the 26th Vendemiaire ; the con- 
spiracy that was to overturn the Directory was ar- 
ranged and decided in the first days of Brumaire, and 
several members of the two councils had been entrusted 
with the secret. Government wishing-, however, to 
show General Bonaparte a public testimony of satis- 
faction, resolved to give him a splendid dinner. It was 
decided that the board should be spread on the nave 
of the church of St. Sulpice. Arrangements were 
made to bring together the two councils and all the 
high officers of the state. The general-in-chief went 
there with a few generals and with his staff. An im- 
mense table in the form of a horse-shoe filled the whole 
church. The general-in-chief sat next to the president 
of the Directory. He trusted so little to the good 
faith of the government, that he ordered a loaf of 
bread and a half a bottle of wine to be brought there 
for his private use. I had not been previously in- 
formed of that circumstance, and I only learned it 
when Duroc asked me in the church for those two ar- 
ticles of provision which were fetched from the gene- 
ral's coach. I never witnessed a more silent assembly, 
nor one where the guests showed less confidence and 
cheerfulness. Scarcely any one addressed his neigh- 
bour, and those who were in the secret of the plot, 
preferred not to speak rather than to risk dangerous 
conversation with neighbours who might differ in 
opinion with them. The toasts that were given were 
received without enthusiasm, even the one meant for 
General Bonaparte, so deeply were the minds of every 
one prepossessed with their own private thoughts. 
After having sat for about half an hour, the general 
got up, walked slowly round the tables, addressed a 
few words to the guests, escaped by a side door, and 
was back in his own lodgings before any one had ob- 
served his absence. 

The most celebrated general officers of the army 
were at the time nearly all at Paris. Moreau, Mac- 
donald, Bournonville, generals-in-chief, had entered 
7 



74 MEMOIRS OF 

into the plot. Augereau, member of the council of 
five hundred, had not been made acquainted with it, 
nor Bernadotte. The opinions of the latter were rather 
violent ; and a feeling of jealousy, the cause of which 
was not extremely honourable to them, had rendered 
them both enemies of General Bonaparte. His having 
formerly commanded in Paris, insured him the friend- 
ship of all the officers of the staff; whilst the colonels 
of the regiments that held garrison in the metropolis 
were all equally devoted to his person. 

Notwithstanding the precautions that had been 
taken to keep the whole atfair a secret, it had however 
spread among the higher classes, and almost all the 
military residing in Paris. The three members of the 
Directory learned it also; and then for the first time 
the force of public opinion made them start back be- 
fore the measures they might so easily have taken to 
annihilate the conspiracy. It would undoubtedly have 
been sufficient to have apprehended the general during 
the night ; but then what would they have done with 
him? How would they have made out any charge 
against him? Where would they have found judges? 
The general-in-chief was so sensible of his real situa- 
tion, that he took no precaution whatever for his per- 
sonal security. He was surrounded by nobody but his 
aides-de-camp ; he seldom went out, and worked prin- 
cipally with Roedeur, in whom he had placed his chief 
confidence. 

On the 16th of Brumaire there was so little appear- 
ance of the plot bursting the following day, that Eugene 
and I passed the evening at a ball, where he remained 
a part of the night, and 1 left at midnight, because that 
was the hour when my duty began. The next morn- 
ing at six o'clock the sixty officers on duty in the quarter 
were assembled in the court-yard of the general's house 
in the Rue de la Victoire. The general explained to 
them in a forcible manner the desperate situation of the 
republic, and asked of them a testimony of devotion to 
his person, with an oath of allegiance to the two cham- 
bers. He then mounted his horse and flew to the Car- 
rousel, where he found Sebastiani at the head of his re- 
giment, the fifth dragoons. On entering the Tuileries, 
he also found the guards of the Directory, whom their 
colonel had brought to remain at the disposal of the 
council of the elders. The minister of the war depart- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 75 

ment had, nevertheless, two days beforehand strictly 
prohibited the chiefs of the different corps from making 
the slightest movement without his orders, under pain 
of death. But besides the little esteem and confidence 
which that minister (Dubois de Crance) inspired, the 
troops were delighted on finding themselves placed 
under the command of General Bonaparte. Their en- 
thusiasm was so great, that they would not have hesi- 
tated a moment to fire on the Directory, if they had re- 
ceived an order to that effect. 

General Bonaparte presented himself at the bar of 
the elders, where M. le Mercier was in the chair. He 
there received the decree by which he was appointed 
gcneral-in-chief of the troops of the first division, and 
an order to march next day to St. Cloud, where the 
two councils were to hold their sitting. In fact, the 
following day the majority of the tv/o councils assem- 
bled in the palace of St. Cloud. The general had re- 
quired M. Gohier, president of the Directory, to tender 
his resignation ; but he I'efused ; and, as a lawyer, the 
reason he gave was, that the order was contrary to the 
constitution. His wife remained with Madame Bona- 
parte, and they were obliged to work upon her alarm 
to obtain her husband's submission. 

The council of elders, not being very numerous, had 
been easily accommodated in one of the large apart- 
ments ; but the council of five hundred, which was to 
sit in the Conservatory, had not yet been able to as- 
semble, because the preparations were not completed. 
In consequence, the sitting did not open till three 
o'clock. Lucien Bonaparte was in the chair. Great 
excitement prevailed; the friends of the Directory 
seemed to be more numerous than the day before. They 
all showed themselves indignant at a measure which, 
bearing all the characteristics of a, coup cfetat^ presented 
besides what they called liberticide violence, and an 
odious violation of the constitution. Scarcely had the 
debates begun, when one of the members proposed that 
each individually should mount the tribune, and swear 
allegiance to the constitution of the year III. The 
general had given me orders to remain in the hall, and 
bring him every five minutes a report of what was going 
forward. The ceremony of the oath was undoubtedly 
meant to gain time and prolong the sitting until night 
should fall in. In the space of five minutes, no more 



76 MEMOIRS OF 

than three oaths were taken ; so that it was evident 
more than five hours would elapse before the ceremony 
was terminated. I acquainted General Bonaparte with 
the circumstance, and found him walking with much 
agitation in an apartment that had no other furniture 
than two arm-chairs. Sieyes was alone with him, sit- 
ting next to the chimney, before a burning fagot which 
he was poking with a stick, for there was not even a 
pair of tongs. After having listened to what I had to 
say, General Bonaparte turned abruptly to Sieyes and 
observed ' " Now, you see what they are doing." " Oh ! 
oh 1" answered the other coolly : " to swear to a part 
of the constitution may be right ; but to the whole con- 
stitution, — that is too much !" 

I retired to the adjoining apartment, where I found 
about thirty officers of the staff, and General Berthier 
in the midst of them. All their faces were lengthened ; 
and they looked gloomy. When I told General Ber- 
thier what was going forward at the five hundred, he 
grew pale and heaved a sigh. But all of a sudden the 
folding-door opened, and General Bonaparte appeared, 
beating the floor with his whip and exclaiming : " This 
must have an end !" They all rushed out, and we soon 
found ourselves at the entrance of the court-yard, 
where a regiment of infantry, just arrived from Paris, 
were ranged in line of battle. He assembled the offi- 
cers, harangued them for a few minutes ; and then, 
turning his horse's head, he galloped back to the foot of 
the great staircase, which he rapidly ascended, and pre- 
sented himself at the bar of the council of the elders. 
The speech he made there was faithfully reported iu 
the papers of the time ; but his agitation of mind was 
carried to such a pitch, that he hesitated, and his words 
were uttered with the utmost disorder. When he ar- 
rived at that part of his speech where he mentioned that 
a great plot had been formed against liberty, one of the 
members of the council said coolly to him : " Genera], 
you must reveal that plot." Instead of answering him, 
the general continued still in a little confusion ; but at 
last recovering his presence of mind, he went on with a 
firmer voice, and finished his speech. One part of the 
council had shared his emotion ; the other, on the con- 
trary, enjoyed his confusion ; and as the council was to 
deliberate on what he had said, he withdrew. But, in- 
stead of returning to the place he had come from, he 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 77 

went to the council of five hundred. In the vestibule 
he found the grenadiers, who took up arms. The noise 
they made alarmed the assembly ; and when Bonaparte 
presented himself, a great number of members rushed 
forward to meet him with angry cries, among which 
one might have distinguished the word dictator. He 
was so pressed between the deputies, his staff, and the 
grenadiers, who had rushed to the door of the apartment, 
that I thought for a moment he would be smothered. 
He could neither advance nor go back. At last those 
who had accompanied him felt that it was necessary to 
open a passage for him, and they succeeded, though not 
without violent efforts. He then went down again to 
the court-yard, mounted his horse, and remaining at 
the foot of the staircase, he sent an order for the presi- 
dent to come to him, which the latter did as soon as 
he could escape. In the meanwhile the confusion in 
the assembly was carried to the highest pitch : several 
members rushing towards the windows v;hich opened 
into the court-yard, pointed to him and cried ovit : 
*' Down with the dictator ! — let him be outlawed !" 
At that moment, M. de Talleyrand, Arnaud the poet, 
and some other persons with whom I was talking, sud- 
denly turned as pale as death : they all fled except those 
I have named. The terrible word of outlaw (hors la lot) 
still possessed all its magic force ; and if a general of 
some reputation had put himself at the head of the 
troops of the interior, it would be difficult to guess what 
might have happened. But the general took a resolu- 
tion, and gave Murat orders to clear the hall. Murat 
placed Colonel Dujardin at the head of a detachment of 
grenadiers, who crossed the hall at a quick pace. When 
the colonel was at the end of the hall, he turned round 
towards the members who filled the benches ; but these 
getting out by the windows, disappeared, and laid 
down their costume, which consisted of a sort of Roman 
toga with a square cap. 

When General Bonaparte entered the hall of the 
council of five hundred, one of the grenadiers who had 
followed him received a thrust from a dagger, which 
penetrated his coat, and which in all probability had 
been meant for the general. The grenadier was re- 
warded, and I think died a captain. The deputy marked 
out as the assassin was a Corsican, called Afcna : he 
perished a short time after, being implicated in the 
conspiracy of which Coracchi and Topineau Lebrun 
7* 



78 MEMOIRS OF 

were at the head, and the object of which was to as- 
sassinate the First Consul at the Opera, in the midst of 
the confusion they intended to create by letting off 
squibs. Having left France a few days after the 18th 
Brurnaire, I could obtain no particulars of the affair. 

Immediately after the expulsion of the deputies, the 
members of the two councils who had been appointed 
to consult on the measures that were to be taken, met ; 
and on the 19th the city of Paris, and soon after all 
the rest of France, learned that General Bonaparte had 
been created First Consul, and that Messrs. Sieyes and 
Roger Duces were to be Second and Third Consuls with 
him. 

The minister of police at that period was M. Fouche, 
subsequently duke of Otranto. On the 17th Brurnaire 
he had pledged his word to General Bonaparte to serve 
him unreservedly ; but on the 18th, as I was walking 
up and down the apartments of St. Cloud, I met one 
of my old schoolfellows, named Thurot, whom I had not 
seen since I left college. He told me that he was sec- 
retary-general of the Police ; and as I questioned him 
rather in a pressing manner, he confessed that his mas- 
ter had sent him to St. Cloud to witness the event, and 
that we must succeed at any cost, as he was well enough 
acquainted with his patron to know that he would 
make us pay our failure dearly. In truth, we learned 
since, that the ministers had taken measures to have 
us apprehended, and perhaps shot, if the undertaking at 
St. Cloud had not completely succeeded. The emperor 
learned that circumstance ; and knowing his own 
strength, he used sometimes to joke with his minister 
about it. 

Although I had not kept up my connections with the 
family of Metternich, the First Consul, hoping to press 
the Austrians so closely, that peace would be the con- 
sequence of the first campaign, sent me to Saxony with 
secret powers to sign an armistice, in case the events of 
the war should incline the Austrians that way. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The expulsion of the late Government caused no 
manner of regret to the public, though the terms of 
that expulsion created some anxiety. Notwithstand- 
ing the violence of the preceding Governments, the 
nation was not yet accustomed to them. She had not 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 79 

forgotten the aim towards which all her exertions had 
been directed for the last twelve years ; the establish- 
ment of liberty founded on solid and respected laws. 
She found however, in the new constitution, none of 
those securities she was entitled to expect. Although 
the First Consul crowned the country with his own 
glory, and though his genius left him no fears for its 
independence, France wished to find in the result of 
victory all the advantages of peace, and all the wealth 
of industry and trade. Therefore, when the periodical 
press was consulted on the question of the consulate 
for life, an immense majority of citizens expressed their 
approbation in the most striking manner, convinced 
that a lasting magistracy offered to their interests a 
greater security. 

One of the earliest measures of the First Consul was, 
to send new diplomatic agents to foreign countries. 
To me he entrusted a mission to Dresden, ordering 
me, immediately after my arrival, to write to Vienna, 
that I had powers to treat for a cessation of hostilities, 
in case the Cabinet of Vienna should prefer addressing 
itself to me. The conditions were in the form of pre- 
liminaries of peace. The circumstances of the war on 
the Rhine hastened its conclusion, and it was signed 
after the battle of Hohenlinden by the Under-chief of 
the Staff of Moreau. 

The apparent object of my mission to Dresden was 
to maintain good friendship between Saxony and 
France. I had superseded a man of considerable 
merit ; but his having been an agent of the Directory 
was sufficient to make his situation perplexing and un- 
pleasant. Mine was nearly the same. I lived at 
Dresden in the greatest retirement. The climate did 
not agree with my wife's health, and my want of ac- 
tivity was disagreeable to me. When 1 received the 
news of the battle of Marengo, my mind was filled 
with grief at the thought, that a military career was 
for ever closed against me, and that I should soon be 
prohibited from wishing for either glory or advance- 
ment. I was however somewhat comforted by the 
permission I received to pass the carnival of 1801 at 
Berlin. 

A great many emigrants lived at Leipsick and Dres- 
den, who owed their retreat and maintenance to the 
generous bounty of the Elector. My arrival at first 
spread alarm among these small colonies. My prede- 



80 MEMOIRS OF 

cesser had been unable to afford them much protection, 
but he had at least removed persecution. They ima- 
gined that an aide-de camp of General Bonaparte 
would not fail to drive them out of the only retreat 
they had left. Instead of that, 1 endeavoured to re- 
move their fears. I had no great merit in showing 
them marks of humanity. I felt naturally inclined to 
consider them in the light of unfortunate countrymen, 
who had ceased to be dangerous from the time they 
had laid down their arms. Besides which, I had re- 
ceived from the First Consul a positive order to facili- 
tate the return to France of all such as appeared will- 
ing to carry back to their country feelings of peace. I 
made no distinction, and, during twelve years, I had 
no cause to repent. I now seek to forget that, in 1814, 
some of them repelled the gratitude they owed me as 
an insult. During these twelve years, at least, the 
Imperial government was not displeasing to them. 
The greatest part of them had solicited and obtained 
official situations. 

At Berlin we lodged with the French Ambassador, 
General Burnonville. His polite attention and delicate 
friendship enhanced the pleasure that reigned that 
year in the metropolis of the Prussian dominions. It 
was during my stay there that peace was signed with 
Russia; and I could not help remarking, as a curious 
circumstance, the sudden eagerness with which the 
Russians sought us, when a few days before a member 
of the diplomatic body would not have dared to dance 
in the same quadrille , with a French lady. I had the 
honour to see and approach frequently the Queen, who 
was still more to be respected for her virtues than ad- 
mired for her beauty. It is impossible to imagine a 
more charming person united with a more dignified 
and majestic demeanour. 

The simplicity of her manners added a still more sa- 
cred character to the feelings of veneration she in- 
spired. She had no splendour, no retinue. She went 
out every day in the plainest carriage, and frequently 
on foot, when the weather permitted. The inhabitants 
of Berlin, or at least many persons attached to the 
Court, used at that time to express themselves with 
perhaps too great a freedom respecting their Sovereign 
and his family; but never was the slightest blame 
mixed with the praises bestowed on the Queen. Sur- 
rounded by her lovely children, lavishing on them the 
softest caresses, with the most touching tenderness, 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 81 

and without the least affectation, she received the 
French with a grace and a feeling of preference dicta- 
ted by policy ; and it was easy to perceive that her 
attentions were owing to the title of Frenchmen more 
than to any particular merit in the person to whom 
she addressed them. 

She had then with her the Princess of Mecklenburg, 
a sister of the Emperor Alexander, whose beauty was 
dazzling, but whose noble features already bore traces 
of the complaint of which she died a short time after : 
the whole expression of her countenance presented 
something so profoundly melancholy, that whenever 
she spoke she seemed to bid you a last adieu. 

The truce with Austria was signed on the 4th of Ni- 
vose, and, according to the promise of the First Con- 
sul, I was soon after recalled. When I arrived in Pa- 
ris, I found the public still in the first excitement oc- 
casioned by the shocking event of the Infernal Ma- 
chine. The execrable attempt showed how much 
hatred the House of Bourbon had conceived against 
Bonaparte. It must be entirely attributed to the 
Princes ; for, in 1814, the emigrants, then masters of 
the field, openly boasted of it, and made no secret of 
the means they had employed. Limoelan, Carton, and 
St. Rejant, were all three Vendeans, who had come 
from England expressly for this noble enterprise. Li- 
moelan escaped, and nothing farther has been heard of 
him ; St. Rejant also escaped at first, but was retaken 
afterwards with Georges. 1 shall here mention in 
what manner he was discovered. 

I expected, on returning to the First Consul, to re- 
sume the functions of aide-de-camp : 1 was mistaken. 
After passing a few days at Malmaison, the First Con- 
sul sent me word by Duroc, that his intention was, I 
should fill an official post, and next morning I read in 
" The Moniteur" that I was appointed one of the direc- 
tors of the Smking Fund. This appointment, which 
had been made without consulting me, and of which 1 
received the first account through a newspaper, vexed 
me. I felt for that sort of employment, and for Paris 
life in general, an aversion, which the catastrophe of 
1815 has but too well justified. I went to M. Maret, 
Secretary of State, and declared that I would not ac- 
cept the situation ; and that I preferred living in ob- 
scurity, to accepting a post to which I felt an aversion. 
At five o'clock I went to dine at the Tuileries, as usu- 



82 ^ MEMOIRS OP 

al. General Lannes, who was on duty, had heard of 
my refusal : he came up to me, approved of it, and en- 
couraged me. " This man wants to send away his . 
most faithful friends : we shall see what he'll gain by 
it." The approbation of the general did not add in the 
least to my resolution, which was firmly taken. The 
First Consul passed by, in going to dine ; and perceiv- 
ing me, he took me to the window, and said, '^ You 
do not wish, then, to enter into official employment.''" 
I answered rather drily, " No." — " Well," he replied, 
** you shall do as you please ; I'll have nothing more 
to do with you." Saying that, he left me. Those were 
the only harsh words I had ever heard from him ; but 
they went to my heart. 1 retired in a rage. Three 
days after, observing my absence, Bonaparte sent 
Clarke and Eugene to order me to go to speak to him. 
I went; and he spoke so persuasively, that 1 accepted 
the office. He then told me that his intention was to 
make me Postmaster-general, in the r6om of a man who 
was wholly devoted to M. de Talleyrand ; but that his 
secret having been discovered, he had encountered an 
opposition which he wished to defeat by side measures. 
At that time he was not yet absolute master. In fact, 
a few months afterwards, I received an order to take 
possession of the Post-office. I entered it against my 
will, 1 nevertheless did my duty there during thirteen 
years, with a devotedness and a zeal which were not 
sufficient to ensure my welfare, and for which I have 
been cruelly punished in 1815. 

When I took the management of the Post-office, I 
found the fatal custom established of delivering up to 
the police of every corner of France all the letters 
claimed as suspicious. I immediately put an end to 
this practice, by sending out of office those directors 
that had been guilty ofvit. From that time, at least, the 
secrets of families were no longer pried into by the 
worst set of men, I soon resolved to cut off all com- 
munication with Fouche, — a measure for . which he 
never forgave me. 

Government, however, met with the approbation of 
all France. The new system of administration was 
better appropriated to the spirit of the nation. The 
magistrates had been chosen from among the enlight- 
ened classes of society. All the public officers felt a 
wish to please, and the necessity of being friends. Po- 
liteness, and the good manners customary in civilized 



COUNT I-AVALLETTE. 83 

states, had taken place of the vulgar forms of the Re- 
public. Order re-appeared on all sides. The First 
Consul had promised peace : he gave it with every ap- 
pearance of durability. * 

France was proud of her First Magistrate, and her 
glory was carried to the highest pitch. Northern Italy 
had been added to the several conquests of the Revolu- 
tion,— a brilliant acquisition that delighted the nation, 
which was always destined to pay dearly for it. Peace 
with England gave the finishing stroke to the national 
glory. Imagination itself could set no bounds to the 
expected prosperity. of France ; and all those golden 
dreams seemed on the point of being realized. The 
expedition to St. Domingo, entrusted in too feeble 
hands, and which ought perhaps not to have been un- 
dertaken at all, was a disappointment ; and the renew- 
al of the war with England, a misfortune. But France 
was full of energy, and shared the boldness and good 
fortune of her chief. She had no other fear but that of 
losing him ; and what fate could not effect, amidst the 
perils of war, the Princes of the House of Bourbon at- 
tempted once more, and nearly succeeded. Certain at 
least it is, that the Princes commanded that murder, 
entered into all the details of its execution, and marked 
out the victim ; whilst one of them sent over for that 
purpose his most faithful servants and most devoted 
friends. 

It was in 1804 that this event took place. For some 
time previously, the First Consul, who had the Eng- 
lish newspapers carefully translated for his perusal, 
was surprised not to find in them the usual abuse or 
threats against his person. Their silence appeared sus- 
-picious ; and one night, being unable to sleep, he arose, 
and looking over the reports of the police he had re- 
ceived several months before, he found that a person, 
called Querelle, had been arrested on the coast of Nor- 
mandy, with two other individuals ; that they had been 
kept in prison since that time, as they were strongly 
suspected of being Chouans, and of having come over 
from England with some black design. He immediate- 
ly sent an order to put these young men on their trial. 
They were probably found guilty, for they were sen- 
tenced to die. The commander of the division delivered 
the sentence to the chief of the staff for execution. — 
That gentleman was at a ball : he conned the letter on 
his return home, and went to bed. If the order had 



84 MEMOIKS OF 

been given immediately, and executed next morning 
at seven o'clock, it is probable that the secret of those 
unfortunate men would have been! for ever buried in 
their graves : but when daylight appeared, the horror 
of approaching death dismayed the mind of Querelle. 
He fell into such violent convulsions, that he was sup- 
posed to have been poisoned. The doctor, who was 
called to his assistance, tried to comfort him ; and 
some broken sentences which escaped him, led the doc- 
tor to the idea of sending him a person who might draw 
from him important disclosures by promising him his 
pardon. The promise was made. When his compa- 
nions were ready to go to the fatal spot, they exhorted 
him to remain firm. One of them said to him, " Thou'lt 
say more than thou knowest. Death is so near, and 
the pang so short ; a little more courage, and all will 
be over !" He resisted : his two accomplices left him, 
with a shrug of the shoulders, and went calmly to be 
shot. However, Querelle acknowledged that several 
emigrants were to have left England to assassinate the 
First Consul ; that Georges and some of his compa- 
nions had a share in the plot. He did not mention Ge- 
neral Pichegru. This slight indication gave a clue to 
the police. Fouche was then no longer minister of 
that department ; it had been joined to the Department 
of Justice ; an odd adjunction, universally blamed, and 
which gave Government an appearance of odious des- 
potism : Justice raised her veil to seize, and lowered it 
to judge. Still the whole structure of Fouche remain- 
ed ; and although the Grand Judge, Regnier, did not 
know how to make use of it, perhaps because he used 
it against his will, the heads of the police set on this 
occasion all their skill to work. 

It was soon known that M. de Riviere, and the son of 
the Duke of Polignac, had arrived in Paris. They 
were arrested, and with them a dozen wretched bra- 
voes, who had gained no reputation even in the Ven- 
dee, — robbers of diligences, polluted by the vilest and 
most odious crimes. Some of these wretches declared 
that Georges was at the head of the conspiracy. One 
of the accomplices said that he had seen in Georges' 
lodgings a man for whom that chief showed the great- 
est consideration, and whom he treated with evident 
respect. This person was supposed to be the Duke 
d'Enghein ; and Bonaparte sent an aide-de-camp to 
Ettenheim, to inquire what the Duke d'Enghein was 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 85 

doing there, and whether he frequently left that resi- 
dence. The aide-de-camp came back, saying, that the 
Duke was often absent from ten to twelve days, and 
that nobody knew where he went. From that circum- 
stance it was concluded, that he came to Paris incog- 
nito, and that it was he whom Georges treated with so 
much respect. His arrest was decided on. A few 
days after his death Pichegru was also arrested, and then 
Picot, who had made the declaration about Georges, 
being confronted with the prisoner, said, it was he 
whom he had meant when speaking of the superior 
chief. When the First Consul heard this, he trembled 
with despair, and cried, " Cursed report ! fatal aide- 
de-camp !" Pichegru being arrested, Bonaparte resolv- 
ed also to make sure of Moreau. The enmity be- 
tween these two men ought to have concluded in no 
other way but by a desperate duel. The former had 
been betrayed by the latter before the 18th of Fructidor. 
Bonaparte had, nevertheless, obtained certain proofs 
that their quarrel had been made up by the interposi- 
tion of an Abbe David. He did not however produce 
these proofs, and he acted wisely. In the hearing of 
the cause, no doubt was left but Georges and his friends 
had come to Paris to murder the individual at the head 
of the government ; that M. de Riviere, first aide-de- 
camp to Monsieur, Comte d'Artois, was in the plot j 
that he had been sent over to take a leading part in it ; 
that Messrs. de Polignac, attached by affection and birth 
to the House of Bourbon, had come with the same in- 
tentions ; and that Pichegru and Moreau were to profit 
by the attempt to recall the Bourbons and replace them 
on the throne. I say, to profit by ; because it appears, 
by an observation that escaped Pichegru, that he had 
refused to take a direct share in the murder of a warrior 
to whom, at least, he owed considerations. On his ar- 
rival in Paris he saw Georges ; and hearing from him 
that the act was not yet committed, he said with a 
haughty air, " What mean all these delays and precau- 
tions ? In London you never thought of calculating 
any thing. Speedily fulfil your promise. I do not 
wish to see you until all is ready." In fact, notwith- 
standing his intrepidity, Georges, on his arrival, had 
not calculated every thing. He remained five months 
and a half concealed in Paris : during so long a space 
of time , fortune presented him with only two opportu- 
nities of committing the crime he meditated, with a due 



86 MEMOIES OP 

regard for the chances of success and his own safety. 
The first Consul was not to be attacked in the Tuile- 
ries, and it was very difficult to surprise him in his 
walks, for which he had no regular hours. To assas- 
sinate him in a theatre was become impossible, since 
the attempt of the Infernal Machine had miscarried: 
The design of Georges could therefore only be put in 
execution during one of his journeys ; and still it was 
not possible at the moment of his starting. The army 
was then assembled at Boulogne. The First Consul 
went twice thither. The first time he started from 
Paris ; and I only learned his departure at a ball the 
3econd Consul gave, Bonaparte came there. It was 
ten o'clock : he perceived me, as he was walking in the 
saloon 5 and having made me a sign, I stepped into an 
apartment where there were but few people. He said 
to me, en passant, " I intend to set ofi"in two hours for 
Boulogne : two coaches, six horses, eight ponies, and 
General Duroc." I was prepared. The usual express 
went off an hour before him, and he arrived before any 
one knew in Paris where he was gone. But his return 
was easier to be known. It was natural to imagine 
that he would not remain long at 'Boulogne. The plan 
of Georges, according to his own confession, was to 
waylay him on his return, dressed with some of his ac- 
complices as guides, who, mounted on ponies, fatigued 
by the express service, generally followed the coach at 
a considerable distance. They were to stop the First 
Consul, put him in a cabriolet escorted by them, drive 
rapidly to Normandy, and embark him for England. 
The latter part of the plan was evidently too absurd, for 
a man of Georges' sense, to have ever thought it feasi- 
ble. He only invented that fable, because he was 
ashamed of acknowledging that he intended to murder 
the First Consul ; and, in fact, nothing would have 
been easier for him, while accompanying the coach as 
a guide, to let off a trumbloon, the shot of which Bona- 
parte could not have survived. At Bonaparte's first 
return, Georges had not yet got together all his people : 
he wished, besides, to strike the blow in Paris. The 
second journey took place with the same precautions, 
only that Bonaparte travelled under the name of Gen- 
eral Bessieres. I do not know what circumstance pre- 
vented Georges from executing his plan that time. 

CHAPTER X. 
The death of the Duke d'Enghein was partly occa- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 87 

sioned by the mistake into which the report of the aide- 
de-camp led the First Consul ; but I must say, that 
that was not the only cause of it. Proofs had been 
obtained that the Prince really did come from time 
to time on the left bank of the Rhine, where he held 

conferences with the Mayor of , and stopped at 

the village of . It was but natural to conclude 

from that circumstance, that he was not a stranger to 
the plots of Pichegru. In truth, what was the plan 
of the conspirators, according to their own confession 
and those of their friends who now boast of it? Piche- 
gru was to throw himself into Alsatia, to proclaim the 
King, and make that province declare itself in favour 
of the Bourbons ; while Moreau was to do the same 
with the army of the coasts. Why then should not 
Pichegru have called in a Prince of the House of 
Bourbon, who lived at seven short leagues distance : a 
Prince, the only one of his family who had acquired 
military reputation in these very departments of the 
Rhine, and whose presence would have warmed the 
hearts and moved the courage of every one ? 

Another motive, perhaps the most peremptory, must 
be sought for in Bonaparte's character, — impetuosity 
and love of revenge, which might be called vendetta 
Corsica. That feeling was besides, at the period I am de- 
scribing, raised to the highest degree by his enemies. 1 
heard him say a few days afterwards, " Let them throw 
all Europe on my shoulders ; my part will then be to 
defend myself: their attack is a legal one. But to 
blow up whole streets, to kill or maim more than one 
hundred persons in the hope of coming at me ; to send, 
as they now have done, forty bravoes to murder me — 
that is too much. I will make them shed tears of blood. 
They shall learn at their expense what it is to make 
murder legal." 

1 went to St. Cloud a few days after the trial. I was 
accustomed, while waiting for the order to enter the 
closet of the First Consul, to stop in the library with a 
young man named Ripaule, who took care of his 
books, and who told me that the day before, while go- 
ing out of that room, Bonaparte perceived a bust of the 
Great Conde placed in a passage leading to his closet: 
he immediately said to Ripaule, with an abrupt tone 
and an agitated voice: " Let that bust be placed some- 
where else." 

The arrival of the Prince and his death were known 



88 MEMOIRS OF 

at the same moment at the palace. Madame Bona- 
parte burst into tears and thew herself at her husband's 
feetj to obtain the Prince's pardon: it was too late. His 
sister-in-law, Madame Elisa, wrote him a letter com- 
posed by Fontanes: he remonstrated with her for hav- 
ing sent it, but without any appearance of resentment. 
Caulaincourt, on his arrival from Strasburgh, learn- 
ed the fatal news from Madame Bonaparte. His 
grief was so great that he fainted. 1 have no 
doubt of his having been a perfect stranger to the 
arrest of the Duke d'Enghein, and my proof is his 
having accepted the place of chief equerry. Caulain- 
court would never have deigned to receive the wages 
of blood. His elevation was only owing to his merit 
and attachment to the First Consul. 

This fatal coup d'etat had not yet ceased harassing 
Bonaparte's mind, when it received another violent 
shock by the death of Pichegru. He had been arrest- 
ed, examined, and confronted. The worthless beha- 
viour of the subalterns towards him, and the total ruin 
of his hopes, made him resolve to avert the horrors he 
had still to encounter, by ridding himself of a life he 
had no more means of prolonging. Perhaps also he 
was urged to the act by the shame of having associ- 
ated with such accomplices for the performance of 
such a crime. He was found dead in prison. It would 
be insulting both Bonaparte and Pichegru to imagine 
that one of the two could have taken the other's life 
in that manner. One must not seek to rob that ener- 
getic soul of the glory of having nobly escaped from 
the hands of his enemies. His retreat was that of a 
gallant warrior ; and if all the particulars that have 
been published were not sufficient to exonerate Bona- 
parte from the suspicion of having murdered him, the 
character of Pichegru, well known to those who ap- 
proached him, had left not the least doubt in their 
mind. 

The condemnations of the other prisoners created a 
general feeling of pity, particularly among the family 
of the First Consul, and those who were devoted to 
his person. Too much blood had already been spilled, 
and every person sought to obtain from the Sovereign 
the pardon of some victim or other. Madame Bona- 
parte took upon her to save M. de Riviere and the 
Polignacs. I accompanied to St. Cloud Madame Louis 
Bonaparte, having by her side the daughter of Lajo- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 89 

lais. The mother of the First Consul, and Madame 
Joseph, the wife of General Murat, and her two 
sisters, undertook to solicit the pardon of the Others. 
When I arrived at St. Cloud, the First Consul, on per- 
ceiving me, said : " What are they doing in my wife's 
apartments .'' They are weeping, and she the most of 
all. It is a heart-breaking sight." 

1 had found him agitated ; his emotion grew more 
and more visible. He walked two or three times up 
and down the closet, and said : '^ The wretches Vv'ant- 
ed to murder me ! What a base act !" 

He then went out of the room. A little while after- 
wards the sister of M. de Riviere and the female rela- 
tions of the Polignacs came in, led by Madame Bona- 
parte, and fell at his feet. He did not hesitate a mo- 
ment, but immediately signed the pardon of Messrs. de 
Polignac and de Riviere. Georges had written to 
Murat a very noble letter, in which he solicited, not 
his own pardon, but those of his companions. The 
general read it to me with emotion. He offered, how- 
ever, to be the first to throw himself on the English 
coast if life was granted to him. It was, he said, only 
changing the manner of his death ; but in that way at 
least it would be useful to his country. His letter was 
read in a secret council. Bonaparte himself appeared 
disposed to pardon, but it was represented to him that 
these men had killed public functionaries in the 
streets ; that no favour could be allowed to a double 
murder ; that it would be showing a sort of favour to 
murderers, and discourage those whose duty it was to 
defend him ; that Georges, an obscure man in his own 
party, was, after all, nothing but a leader of banditti, 
famous only fo» atrocious acts ; and in one word, that 
if he were spared, nobody could with justice be pun- 
ished. He was executed with nine of his accomplices; 
and the mob, according to their custom, went to see the 
tragedy performed, and to seek emotions at the sight 
of the violent death of individuals who had attempted 
to recall the Bourbons. 

This conspiracy made the First Consul sensible that 
he ought to hasten his ascent to the throne. It was the 
secret wish of all those whose ambition looked for fa- 
vours which a Republic was unable to bestow. To Bo- 
naparte it offered not alone protection, but also an ex- 
tent of power, of which he felt the want for the execu- 
tion of his great design. Besides that, it was the only 
means of reconciling to his government the sovereigns 
8* 



90 MEMOIRS OF 

of Europe, who trembled at the thought of a Republic. 
England alone excepted, being scarcely a monarchy in 
its foreign concerns, all the other powers were con- 
vinced that the presence of a monarch in France would 
stem the torrent of republican ideas, and the discon- 
tent that prevailed among all nations. Peace had al- 
ready been concluded with all, and confirmed during 
the Consulate. The Emperor Paul had gone farther 
still. In his hatred of the English, he found a power- 
ful auxiliary in the First Consul. Both these monarchs 
sought to mark their reign by illustrious actions, and 
their common hatred of the English had brought them 
a great deal nearer to one another. There had been 
some questions of an expedition to India by their joint 
forces. The Emperor Paul imprudently betrayed his 
secret, and perished. His death was probably as much 
owing to that circumstance as to the despotism with 
which he swayed his family and his court. 

The return so skilfully prepared from republic to 
monarchy, was marked by the most solemn ceremony 
the Christian world had witnessed for the last thousand 
years. All Christendom most ardently wished, that 
the kingdom of France, after having presented to the 
world a deplorable example of scandalous impiety, 
might also offer a majestic instance of a nearer return 
to the Christian religion. The Pope, rising above all 
mean passions, hatred, and prejudice — convinced be- 
sides, that the leader of France was directed by Provi^ 
dence, — concluded a treaty dictated by wisdom, policy, 
and sanctity of his high calling. He could not have 
resisted the wish that was expressed to him, to conse- 
crate the union of church and state by the authority of 
his presence, and the pompous ceremonies of that wor- 
ship, which acknowledged in him its sovereign pontiff. 
He left Rome, and came to France. The First Consul 
received him at Fontainebleau, and the most majestic 
gravity presided over their mutual relations during the 
whole of his stay in France. The ceremony of the 
coronation was the most solemn that ever had bestowed 
a sacred character on the legitimacy of a sovereign. 
The Pope, a venerable old man, surrounded by all his 
prelates, and by more than one hundred French bishops 
ordained with his consent, the chief functionaries of 
the state, the whole diplomatic body of Europe, and 
the universal assent of France and the army, have 
given to that act a degree of legitimacy, which the 
House of Bourbon will never be able to weaken. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 91 

These united claims to all that is legitimate among 
men were perhaps not sufficiently felt by the Emperor, 
when he abdicated at Fontainebleau. His resistance 
would undoubtedly have cast him into captivity ; but 
what ought his own fate to have been in his eyes ? He 
was persecuted as a sovereign. But his son never could 
forfeit his right ; and although he abdicated in his fa- 
vour, that modified act was void, because not expressed 
by his own sacrifice. I shall have an opportunity of 
recalling these reflections to mind. 

England soon felt that the peace with the whole 
Continent, and with herself, would be fatal to her. 
The expedition to St. Domingo had begun successfvilly. 
It was altogether a bad enterprise that ought not to 
have entered into the plans of the Emperor ; but the 
remembrance of the prosperity of St. Domingo, the nu- 
merous colonists who had fled to France and sighed 
over the wreck of their fortune, called loudly for the 
conquest of the island. The Emperor yielded to the 
general delusion, and to a desire of employing his navy, 
which was eager to share the national glory.* The 
Directory had made a bad choice and taken half-mea- 
sures : this was more than sufficient to produce failure. 
The general to whom they had given the command of 
the expedition was a man of little capacity, though of 
great personal integrity. He failed, and fell a victim 
to the skill of the blacks. He was shipped off and 
sent away with the reputation of a dupe, and the dis- 
grace he had cast on the name of the French. The 
general to whom the Emperor entrusted the second 
expedition had more sense and talent than his prede- 
cessor, but, like him, he bad to contend with a de- 
structive climate, and apov/er augmented by .first suc- 
cess. It must also be ackuovvledged, that liberty with 
all its advantages, its energy, and its hopes, had given 
to the negroes, already organized, and proud of their 
former victory, a degree of strength and skill, over 
which it was no longer possible to triumph. The ge- 
neral-in-chief died a victim to the climate ; and al- 
though he had sent to France Toussaint Louverture, 
the chief man in the country, he sanic under the nation- 
al energy and advantageous positions of his enemies. 

*It is easy to discover that the writer has here made a slight 
mistake, or rather has transposed events. The expedition to St. 
Domingo took place in 1802, before the First Consul had mounted 
the Imperial throne, and Toussaint Louverture died at Fort Joux 
on the 14th of April, 1803. (JVote of the French Editor.) 



92 MEMOIRS OF 

England seized the moment when the success of the 
expedition was doubtful, to break the peace. Mr. Pitt, 
accustomed to trample on the most sacred rights and 
conventions, began the war without declaration, cap- 
tured trading vessels, ruined merchants, and set the 
Continent again on fire. Russia and Austria united, 
took up arms again. The Emperor left the shores of 
the Atlantic for Austria, and made the admirable 
campaign which terminated with the battle of Auster- 
litz. It was then that.I adopted for the first time, on 
a large scale, the system of expresses the Emperor 
had commanded me to organize, and the invention of 
which was his. He had felt the inconvenience of let- 
ting a single man cross such a vast extent of country. 
More than once, the couriers, oppressed with fatigue 
or badly mounted, did not by their speed satisfy his 
impatience. He did not like either to put in the hands 
of a single man papers, the speedy reception of which 
might have a serious, and sometimes decisive influ- 
ence over the most important events. Consequently, 
by his orders I organised the express service, which 
consisted in sending by the postillions of each stage 
the cabinet despatches shut up in a portfolio, of 
which he and I each had a key. When a postillion 
arrived at a stage, he delivered to the next one a little 
book, on which the name of all the stages \v^as inscrib- 
ed, and in which the hour of the arrival and departure 
of the despatches was to be mentioned. Fines and 
severe punishment were inflicted for the loss of the 
little book, or for any negligence of the postmaster in 
setting down the hour of the arrival and departure of 
the despatches. I had a great deal of trouble in ob- 
taining a due execution of those forms ; but by means 
of an active and constant superintendence 1 succeeded 
at last, and the service continued during eleven years 
with most wonderful success. I was enabled to ac- 
count exactly for a day's delay on a space of four hun- 
dred leagues. The express departed and arrived every 
day from and to Paris, Naples, Milan, the mouths of 
the Cataro, Madrid, Lisbon, and, at a later period, also 
Tilsit, Vienna, Petersburg, and Amsterdam. This 
plan besides ensured considerable economy : the couri- 
ers used to cost seven francs and a-half per post, where- 
as the expresses were no more than three francs. The 
Emperor received on the eighth day the answers to 
the letters he addressed to Milan, and on the fifteenth 
to those of Naples. This service was very useful to 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 93 

him, and I may say without vanity, that it proved one 
of the elements of his success. 

The campaign began by the affair of Ulm, which 
came like a thunderbolt : Russia was dismayed, and 
hastened to hide her hostile projects. Austerlitz for- 
ced Austria to bend the knee, and the astonished Rus- 
sians to fall back. The following year, Prussia was 
defeated in the battle of Jena, and added a fresh proof 
to a thousand others, that an absolute monarchy is no- 
thing if its leader be not the most skilful man in the 
nation. This event was also a proof that Prussia is not 
a strong nation. Its sovereign, dismayed by the loss 
of one battle, sought an auxiliary in the most distant 
north ; while its army, which still contained pupils of 
Frederick the Great, had lost all its old energy, and 
even the enthusiasm of its former glory. One day it 
fought, and the next it was nothing mere than a mass 
of men without discipline or energy. One only saved 
the honour of the monarchy, and preserved some sparks 
of the same fire that influences all hearts. This was 
not done by a prince of the House of Prussia, but by 
Blucher, and his march towards Lubeck, with his no- 
ble defence, gave the Prussians a great lesson of cou- 
rage in adversity, the most important and most useful 
lesson men and nations can receive. 

These two years' triumph did not inspire the Empe- 
ror with an idea of conquering Europe to become her 
master or her president; it was his genius and his 
character that developed the idea : for those great con- 
querors of the world are all cast in the same mould — 
everywhere they must he the first, or perish ! He had 
spent four years of his consulate in discussing the civil 
code, an edifice which has already been shaken in one 
of its most important parts, but which will never be 
destroyed as long as the love of our country and a 
taste for civilization shall preside over our destinies. In 
the interval from his second war to his last, he busied 
himself with the interior administration. Some dis- 
order, occasioned more by want of experience than by 
dishonesty, had arisen during his absence. On his re- 
turn, he displaced some persons, rectified some of his 
choices, and gave to the general administration a live- 
ly though steady impulse.- His astonishing memory 
made him master of all things, not only in the ensemhle, 
but also in their most minute details. The consequence 
of this was, that his conversation was extremely per- 
plexing for men who were not perfectly acquainted 



94 MEMOIRS OF 

with the subjects they were to demonstrate. It was 
his constant application to all sorts of affairs, and his 
excellent method of classing them in his mind, that 
enabled him to carry his success so far. It has fre- 
quently happened to me, to be less sure than he was 
of the distances of places, and of a number of particu- 
lars in my department, which he knew well enough 
to correct. M. de Talleyrand told me, that as he was 
travelling one day with him from Boulogne to Paris, 
a short time after the army had left the coast for the 
banks of the Rhine, the Emperor met a detachment of 
soldiers going to join their corps, which they did not 
know where to find. Having inquired the number of 
their regiment, he immediately calculated the day of 
their departure, and the road they had taken, and said 
to them — You will find your battalion at such a place. 
The army was at that time two hundred thousand men 
strong. The admirable order in which he arranged 
his ideas, and his prodigious memory, made him as 
much beloved by the soldiers as respected by the offi- 
cers of the army. Every one knew that he nevier for- 
got the name of a brave man, and that it was always 
sufficient to recall to his memory some brave action to 
ensure its recompense ; and whenever he promised 
any thing, he always kept his word. 

CHAPTER XI. 
I now proceed to the campaign of 1809. The suc- 
cess of the Wagram campaign had a considerable 
influence over the destinies of France: not so much, 
however, because peace was once more ensured to 
the continent, as on account of the alliance between 
the two crowns. The first proposals of the marriage 
of the emperor with the archduchess Maria Louisa 
were made at Vienna with Prince Metternich, not- 
withstanding the exertions of a considerable party that 
would not listen to such an alliance. I first suspected 
what was going forward through a singular circum- 
stance. The emperor did not well know how to 
divorce a woman who was so deserving of his love, 
and whose adorable qualities had made her an object 
almost of worship in the eyes of the French. He 
would not have been sorry to have seen others set an 
example which might make some impression on the 
public, and render the matter less difficult to him: at 
least, I have always thought so. Marshal * ♦ * came 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 95 

to see me the day after his arrival. We were friends 
of long- standing-: he placed in me an unbounded con- 
fidence, and he spoke to me of his wife with great 
discontent. I had always thought him jealous, and I 
believe he did not do his wife justice. In our conver- 
sations he even went so far as to say he could not live 
any longer with her, and he repeated to me what the 
emperor ^ad said to him at Vienna. Napoleon affected 
to pity the marshal's domestic vexations, and observed 
that the best thing- he could do would be to end them 
by a divorce. " You will never have any children by 
her," he added, "and still j^ou ought to wish that a 
name like the one you bear be not lost. Divorce her, 
and then you may choose among the most illustrious 
families of France a consort who will give you succes- 
sors to your rank and titles." The marshal, when he 
mentioned the fact to me, and asked my advice, was 
as far as myself from suspecting the secret motive of 
the emperor's words. I had not the least doubt of 
his wife's virtue: she possessed many amiable quali- 
ties, and had brought him a considerable fortune. I 
advised him not to take a step he might perhaps long 
regret. He followed my advice, and I believe he acted 
wisely. 

A few days after the emperor returned from the 
army, and at the end of two months he went to Fon- 
tainebleau. I followed him thither almost immediately. 
As soon as I arrived, the empress sent me word to 
come to her apartment by a back staircase. I found 
her melancholy, and her countenance betrayed the 
effect of strong agitation. " Fouche has just left me," 
she said, *' and what do you think he said to me ? 
* Madam, your majesty must give France and the 
emperor a great proof of devotion. It is necessary for 
the emperor to leave behind him children who may 
perpetuate his name, and give to France a family that 
may deprive the Bourbons of all hopes of return. Ten 
years' marriage leaves the nation and the emperor no 
expectations of his having any children by your ma- 
jesty. You are therefore, in this respect,' the only 
obstacle to the solid happiness of France. Vouchsafe 
to follow the advice of a man who is wholly devoted 
to you. The peculiar situation in which you are 
placed; obliges you to make a great sacrifice to your 



96 MEMOIRS OF 

own glory and the interest of all. I know how hard 
it will fall upon you; but your noble mind will easily 
learn resig-nation. The emperor will never dare to 
propose it. I know his attachment for you. Be greater 
than he is great, and give this last token of devotion 
to your country and your sovereign. History will re- 
pay you for it, and your place will be marked above 
the most illustrious women that have sat upon the 
throne of France.' I was utterly disconcerted at that 
speech," added Josephine; "the only reply I could 
give to so strange a proposal was, that I would con- 
sider of it, and give him an answer in a few days. 
Lend me therefore your advice, — you who are at once 
a relation and a friend to me. Does it not appear past 
all doubt, that Fouch^ has been sent by the emperor 
and that my fate is already decided? Alas! to descend 
from a throne is no sacrifice to me. No one knows 
how many tears I have shed over it! But to lose also 
the man on whom 1 have bestowed all my affection, — 
that is an act of self-denial to which my resolution is 
not adequate." 

I shared the empress's surmise, that Fouche had 
been sent by the emperor; but that strange news sur- 
prised me as much as it did her, and I asked for some 
hours to reflect before I gave her an answer. It re- 
quired, however, but short meditation to be convinced, 
that whether the proposal had really been made by 
order of the emperor, or that Fouche wished to keep 
to himself the glory of such a change, it was altogether 
too advantageous to be abandoned, and that the sacri- 
fice was therefore unavoidable. On the other hand, 
I was too well acquainted with the attachment of the 
empress to her husband not to be convinced that she 
never would of her own accord make the sacrifice. I 
had been for a long time devoted to her: I was her 
son's friend, and her niece's husband. It was there- 
fore by no means proper that I should encourage a 
plan which had perhaps no other source than Fouche's 
ambition, and break all the ties which united me to 
that family : I do not mean only the ties that might be 
of service to me, but chiefly those of friendship. I 
have, besides, never placed much confidence in that 
human wisdom which pretends to control events by 
foretelling them. None but the most enlightened and 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 97 

strongest minds are able to see the future, and even 
they are often mistaken. I advised the empress to 
remain silent on the subject, to let the emperor be- 
gin, and to declare to Fouche, that as her first duty 
was attachment to the emperor, her second was obe- 
dience, and that in consequence she did not wish to 
hear any more upon the subject from any other person 
than the man who held her fate in his hands. She 
approved of my advice, and followed it. But the storm 
was not long before it burst. All was undoubtedly 
already concluded with Austria, when the emperor 
sent for Eugene from Italy, that he might comfort his 
mother at the fatal moment of the divorce; and a few 
days after he held a secret council, where he admitted, 
besides the grand officers and ministers, the members 
of the family. He explained in that council the mo- 
tives which had swayed his decision, by seeking, for 
the advantage of the state, in another marriage, his 
long lost hope of begetting direct issue. He gave 
them afterwards to understand, that he was at liberty 
to choose his new consort either in the house of Aus- 
tria, or in that of Russia, or in some of the sovereign 
houses of Germany. The grand officers of the empire, 
who were probably already acquainted with his secret 
determination, gave their votes for an Austrian prin- 
cess. Prince Eugene was of the same opinion, and 
adduced as his principal motive, the Roman Catholic 
religion, in which the archduchess was bred. The 
king of Naples gave his vote for a Russian princess, 
on account of the advantage that would accrue from a 
union with the most powerful sovereign of Europe, 
and the most distant from Ffance: he opposed the 
alliance with Austria, by recalling the fatal experience 
we had already reaped from it. " A family alliance,'* 
he added, " never gave to France any real advantage. 
France will be obliged to support all the wrong steps 
of the foreign government, and to share its heavy and 
dangerous burthens. Nothing but the situation of 
Austria can force her to a connection which in her 
proud heart she certainly detests. It is Austria who 
more than any other power has given the force of a 
maxim to the idea that sovereigns have no relations. 
France will be obliged to support her at great cost in 
her awkward and frequently dishonest policy, and in 
9 



98 MEMOIES OF 

the wars she so badly manages; and when in our turn 
we shall want her as an ally, we shall find in her nei- 
ther energ'y nor fidelit}^ An alliance with Russia has 
none of those dangers for us." 

These were very sensible observations, but could 
have no effect against a fixed resolution. I have been 
told that some proposals of a marriage with a grand- 
duchess had really been made, and the person who 
entrusted me with that secret enjoyed such a high 
character for honesty, and was in so favourable a situa- 
tion to get acquainted with the most important affairs, 
that I can have no doubt upon the subject. However, 
the emperor was at that time so strongly determined, 
that the debate of which I have been speaking could 
have had no other foundation than a feeling of vanity, 
to which he was perhaps not altogether a stranger, 
and some political object which I never could dis- 
cover. 

A few days before he had sent for me. He had been 
looking out for some friend of the empress, who might 
help to sweeten the bitter about to be presented to 
her. His choice fell on me. '* The nation," he said, 
"has done so much for me, that I owe her the sacrifice 
of my dearest affections. Eugene is not young enough 
for me to keep him for my successor; nor am I old 
enough to give up all hopes of having children, and 
yet by Josephine I can have none. The tranquillity 
of France requires my choosing a new consort. The 
empress has lived already for several months in all the 
torment of uncertainty. Every thing is settled for my 
new union. You are the husband of her niece; she 
honours you with her esteem; will you not take upon 
you to acquaint her with the fatal news, and prepare 
her for her new situation?" 

I answered, that my relationship to the empress did 
not permit me to undertake that commission; that the 
attachment I had at all times professed for her left me 
no plausible reason wherewith to justify such a mis- 
fortune, and that it appeared to me more proper that 
his majesty should select some person for whom the 
commission might be of a less delicate nature. He 
did not seem at all offended at my refusal, and he gave 
the charge to M.N.** *, who acquitted himself with 
propriety and success. The arrival of Prince Eugene 



COUIN'T LAVALLETTE. 99 

was a great comfort to Josephine. When in the 
council, before the emperor, and in the presence of 
the grand officers of the empire, she was obliged to 
declare that she consented to the divorce, she dis- 
played so much courage and firmness of mind, that all 
the spectators were deeply moved. The next day she 
left the Tuileries, never to return more. The empe- 
ror had during the preceding day passed some hours 
with her; his grief was sincere; and the man whom the 
most important events could not even shake for an 
instant, bent his knee before that excellent woman, 
and shed abundant tears. I went to see her the morn- 
ing before her departure. Some persons of the court 
came coolly to take leave of her, and express, in an 
embarrassed way, a few insincere wishes; and when 
she got into her coach with the Countess d'Alberg, her 
lady of honour, and with her chevalier d'honneur, not 
one single person remained to show her a grateful 
face. Every wish, every pretension was already di- 
rected towards the new court. The emperor retired 
for a fortnight to Trianon. His grief was deep and 
sincere; but the archduchess arrived, and from that 
moment he gave himself entirely up to the joy his 
new bride promised him. 

Fortune, which till then had seconded his genius, 
bestowed unreservedly this new favour upon him. 
The young empress was tall, well made, and in ex- 
cellent health. She appeared adorned with all the 
grace and beauty that usually accompany youth. Her 
face, which displayed the family features of the im- 
perial house of Austria, was remarkable for an air of 
kindness; arid, unlike the rest of her family, her smile 
was amiable and sweet. The lustre that surrounded 
her, the splendour of the first throne in the universe, 
all the arts vieing with each other to please her; a 
young, brilliant, and warlike court at her feet, the at- 
tentions paid her by the emperor, whose fame had for 
several years already struck her imagination, made her 
abode in Paris delightful to her. She frequently ex- 
pressed her satisfaction with a warmth and a naivete 
that made her generally beloved. The marriage ce- 
remony took place with great pomp. Many persons, 
however, recalled to their memory the arrival of the 
archduchess Marie Antoinette, and the fatal fireworks 



100 MEMOIRS OF 

let off in the Place Louis XV., where so many lives 
were lost. The public took some pleasure in com- 
paring- the two periods, especially on the occasion of 
the fete given at the Champ de Mars by the imperial 
guard; where the most admirable order had prevailed 
among- six thousand people assembled in a temporary 
wooden room, surrounded by eighty thousand others 
who had come to enjoy the sight of the fireworks. All 
these rejoicings were over, when the emperor thought 
he could not refuse attending a soiree given by the 
Austrian ambassador, Prince Schwartzenberg, in his 
hotel. Rue de Mont Blanc. There were at least six 
hundred persons present; and the house not being 
large enough for so numerous a company, the ambas- 
sador had ordered a round temporary saloon of wood- 
work to be erected in the garden communicating with 
his apartments. The architect had completed all the 
preparations in four days. Unfortunately he fixed the 
floor of the saloon on one side to the steps that went 
down to the garden, and on the other to the rock of a 
grotto, where there never entered a drop of water. 
A gallery also of wood had been erected, leading to 
the Rue de Provence. It was in the beginning of sum- 
mer, and the heat was excessive. Gauze and musliu 
draperies, with a great profusion of garlands, lined the 
saloon and all its avenues. An immense quantity of 
wax candles added to the heat of the atmosphere, and 
gave to all the ornaments a most inflammable dryness. 
A candle fell against one of the curtains of the gallery 
and set fire to it. One of the chamberlains, a man of 
very tali stature, perceived it and tore it down; but 
the flames extended with so much rapidity, that in a 
few seconds they reached the saloon, and quickly 
spread all round the room. Every body ran toward 
the garden; but as there was only one door, the com- 
pany was all crowded to the same point; the floor gave 
way, and many persons fell into a hollow of more than 
five feet deep. The confusion then grew excessive. 
The cries of despair and fright, the dismay and the 
wish to escape from the danger, that spared neither 
sex nor rank, made the scene horrible to witness. The 
flames having soon reached and consumed the roof of 
the saloon, the ceiling fell in, and the whole presented 
the appearance of a vast furnace. In three minutes' 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 101 

time the flames had spread in every direction. The 
company escaped to the g-ardens and the streets, half 
covered with the remainder of thejr burning clothes. 
The emperor had retired just as the fire began to 
communicate with the saloon; but after having placed 
the empress in safety, he quickly returned in a plain 
dress with prince Eugene, who had saved the princess 
Augusta with great presence of mind. At that mo- 
ment the sight was appalling. Some unfortunate wo- 
men who had fallen under the floor had attempted to 
get out through the beams that supported it; but al- 
ready half burnt, they vainly extended their wounded 
arms through the bars; and when assistance came it 
was too late. Those who were saved died a short 
time after in excruciating pain. The princess de la 
Dijon, a woman as remarkable for her beauty jis she 
was respectable for her virtue, was carried, nearly half 
burnt, to the lodge of a poor portress of a neighbour- 
ing hotel. She was speechless. The old woman co- 
vered her with her own clothes; and a Swedish offi- 
cer, who had saved her without knowing who she was, 
brought her in a hackney coach to Passy, where he 
supposed she lodged, as that had been the only word 
she had been able to utter. He went with her from 
door to door, until at last her servants recognised her 
voice. The unfortunate lady died four days afterwards, 
in the prime of her age, after having given with tears 
her blessing to her daughter, who was married, at her 
bedside. 

The fate of the princess Schwartzenberg, sister-in- 
law to the ambassador, was no less tragical. She was 
at the ball with her children: radiant in beauty, splen- 
didly dressed, and glittering in diamonds. She saved 
herself in the garden; where, not seeing her eldest 
daughter by her side, and having sought for her in 
vain, the courageous mother flew back to the saloon. 
The floor sunk under her feet, and she was engulfed 
in the flames. A few hours later, when the fire was 
at last extinguished, she was found a shapeless corpse, 
burnt to the bones, blackened, and shrunk to half her 
size. She was only known by the rings she wore on 
her fingers. Some business had kept me at home; 
the blaze of the fire and the pubhc alarm made me fly 

to the fatal scene. It was no longer possible to come 
9* 



102 MEMOIRS OF 

near it. The mob filled all the avenues. Their un- 
pitiful memory recalled the misfortunes of the Place 
Louis XV. at the marriage of Marie Antoinette. The 
most dismal comparisons, the most sinister predictions 
accompanied the name of Maria Louisa; and I went 
back, my heart deeply grieved at the behaviour of the 
crowd, who showed so little sensibility for the victims, 
and who, by the cruel malice of their observations, 
gave but too sure a proof that they felt no pity for the 
unfortunate persons, whose pleasures and high rank 
wounded their vanity. 

The fatal forewarnings of the people were, how- 
ever, not immediately confirmed. The empress was 
delivered of a son on the twentieth of March. Her 
pregnancy had given great hopes; and the people, who 
had frequently enjoyed the sight of her, showed her 
all the interest she could wish to inspire. Govern- 
ment had announced, that if she were delivered of a 
son, the salute would consist of a hundred and one 
guns, but only of twenty -five if it were a princess. At 
the twenty-sixth gun, the joy of the people was car- 
ried to a fit of delirium, not only in Paris, but all over 
France. I call the whole generation to witness that 
all our wishes were fulfilled. The prosperity of the 
state seemed assured, and France delivered from all 
fear of revolution. It was then, I have often since re- 
peated with many other people, — it was then that the 
emperor ought to have hung up against the wall his 
conqueror's sword, and sought rest in the administra- 
tion of his extensive empire. France would have been 
happy, and the memory of the Bourbons for ever bu- 
ried in oblivion. 

The empress's delivery had been tedious. She suf- 
fered severely for several hours. I arrived at the pa- 
lace a short time before it was over, although I was 
not called there by my rank; but I had free access at 
all hours. The emperor was much agitated, and went 
continually from the saloons to the bedchamber, and 
back again. At last the medical gentlemen appearing 
in some doubt as to the mode of delivering the prin- 
cess, the emperor said to them in a loud voice and 
much moved: " Do as you would with a citizen's wife. 
Save the mother by all means." The child came, 
however, safe into the world, and the emperor imme- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 103 

diately presented it to us. The wishes for his welfare 
and the general emotions were sincere. May he one 
day realize all the wishes that accompanied his birth! 
— and if it be not for the happiness of France, may 
she still one day be proud that he was born among 
her children, 

CHAPTER XII. 

Notwithstanding- the glorious resistance of the Spa- 
niards, and the varied success of our armies in Spain, 
the emperor had kept a part of Prussia in his hands, 
and established the centre of his military position in 
the north at Hamburg, which was intrusted to the care 
of Marshal Davoust. The marshal deserved the em- 
peror's confidence by his noble conduct at Jena, and 
by an unbounded devotion. The conditions of the 
treaty of Tilsit, in regard to England, were only to 
remain in force for three years. The emperor Alex- 
ander was perplexed by the state of his trade. The 
produce of his empire remained on hand, the English 
refusing to receive it; and the great landholders of 
the country, who were noblemen, complained. In a 
government where the life of the sovereign is fre- 
quently exposed to the effect of conspiracies, it is per- 
haps more dangerous than in other places to wound 
the passions and interests of the great, as it is not ne- 
cessary there to stir up the people, while three or four 
ferocious rebels and a handful of soldiers may decide 
the fate of the sovereign and the empire. This consi- 
deration had certainly a due influence on the new de- 
termination of the emperor Alexander. He was be- 
sides but little satisfied with his ally Napoleon. The 
rigour with which Prussia had been used displeased 
him, and the sovereignty of Italy vexed him. The 
dominion of the French in the latter country, and the 
possession of the seven Venetian islands, situated so 
near Greece, made him fear a watchful and terrible 
enemy, if ever he wished to resume Catherine's old 
plans in regard to the Ottoman empire : he therefore 
began by degrees to seek a reconciliation with En- 
gland. 

His conduct greatly displeased the emperor, who 
strongly felt the consequences of it. All the powers of 
the continent had suffered severely; Russia alone still 



104 MEMOIRS OF 

preserved all the energy of her immense strength. The 
emperor resolved to attack her. He did not, however, 
carry his resolution into effect without having first ex- 
hausted all means of conciliation ; but when he saw 
how stubborn the enemy remained, he opened the cam- 
paign. The Emperor Alexander imagined he had dis- 
posed all things favourably ; but the first attacks were 
so vigorous, that he soon grew sensible he should be 
obliged to make one of his last resources, and sacrifice 
every thing if he wished to get the advantage in this 
giant's strife. He began by making peace with the 
Turks. Unfortunately for France, the jEmperor Na- 
poleon thought the divan would be too well aware of 
its true interests, to conclude a peace with its mortal 
enemy at a moment when that enemy was going to be 
so powerfully attacked. He thought that the divan, 
according to its old maxims, leaving the Christians to 
weaken one another by their wars, would profit by 
their exhausted state, either to attack them, or at least 
to obtain that degree of rest which would ensure safety. 
The emperor sent off his ambassador. General * * *, 
too late, and when he arrived at the Turkish frontiers 
he learned that peace had been concluded between the 
Ottoman Porte and Russia. Napoleon had another 
enemy in Bernadotte, prince royal of Sweden, whom 
he had thought attached to his interests. I never 
could conceive why he remained so unconcerned at 
that general's exaltation. He was perhaps not sorry 
to get him out of France ; and accustomed to obtain 
every thing by force, and despise old diplomatic ma- 
noeuvres, he certainly had no idea that Bernadotte 
would be in a situation to injure him. However, the 
prince royal of Sweden laid down a plan of resistance 
such as the most inveterate enemy of France could 
scarcely have imagined. To his natural policy, as 
prince of Sweden, he added his hatred of Napoleon, 
which made him give able and fatal advice to Russia ; 
and General Moreau was recalled, with a view of being 
placed at the head of a Russian army, and invading 
France as the head of a party. The campaign, which 
had begun in so brilliant a manner, and which, with a 
little more prudence the emperor would have conclud- 
ed in good time, owed a part of its disasters to the 
fatal conviction of Napoleon that his enemies would 
always yield, and that accumulated humiliation would 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 105 

never produce any thing but ineffectual fury. I have 
often heard it repeated that the king of Naples greatly 
contributed to our misfortunes, by keeping the em- 
peror in a fatal security. The Russians caressed that 
king; they intoxicated him with perfidious praises, 
which unfortunately had too much power over his 
mind. He was, they said, the hero of the French ; the 
Du Guesclin, the Bayard of his age ; he was the prop 
of the throne, and the support of national glory ; it 
was with him alone that they would consent to treat ; 
every concession that could be made without danger, 
they would offer to him, happy if he deigned to ac- 
cept their terms. The return of a courier sent to the 
Emperor Alexander was looked for with impatience, 
and then peace was to be immediately signed. The 
king of Naples, who had already entered into private 
engagements with Russia for the preservation of his 
Neapolitan throne, was delighted by finding in the 
Russians a fresh security. He therefore kept the em- 
peror in an illusion, which, to say the truth, he shared 
himself, though the still burning ruins of Moscow ought 
to have taught them, that a sovereign capable of taking 
such a step, would never sign a disgraceful peace. In 
fact, the Russians were already preparing to harass, 
by all possible means, the French army in its retreat. 
The disasters of that campaign are known. While 
they were going on, the city of Paris witnessed a pro- 
digy such as is often seen on the eve of the great con- 
vulsions of nature. What all Europe in arms had not 
dared to plan for the last twenty years, namely, the 
conquest of Paris, a single man, in prison, without 
friends, money, or reputation, was bold enough to at- 
tempt, and almost succeeded. I had served with 
Mallet as staff officer in 1793. He was a man of an ex- 
traordinary turn of mind : his manners were eccentric, 
and he was tormented with a deep melancholy, that 
made him morose and disagreeable to his comrades. 
The accession of Bonaparte to the throne had displeased 
him, and he had not attempted to hide his feelings. 
The loss of his liberty, added to the grief of seeing his 
career stopped when so many officers of younger stand- 
ing than himself rose to the highest rank and acquired 
great reputation, made him take a part in an ill-con- 
ceived conspiracy, consisting of those old remains of 
brawling Jacobins, who take no counsel but their rage, 



106 MEMOIES OF 

and have no means of realizing their wretched prqfeetsr. 
Mallet was discovered, and the particulars of the plot 
having been laid before the eyes of the emperor, he 
shrugged up his shoulders through contempt. After 
some years' imprisonment, Mallet obtained leave to re- 
move to one of those private hospitals (Maisons de 
Sant6) which surround Paris, and which were for the 
police a sort of seminaries, where they kept, subject 
to a severe supervision, all such persons who could not 
be convicted, but whom, however, it would have been 
dangerous to set entirely free. We had remained dur- 
ing twenty-six days without any accounts from the 
army ; sinister reports were beginning to circulate ; 
when Mallet, after having combined his plan with the 
Abbe Constant, a companion of his captivity, found 
means to get out of prison, dressed in a field-marshal's 
uniform, and went at four o'clock in the morning to 
the barracks of the Municipal Legion. Having called 
up the colonel, who was still asleep, he told him with 
an air of dismay, that the emperor was dead ; that the 
senate was assembled to restore the republican govern- 
ment in France ; and that he, Mallet, who had been 
appointed commander of Paris, wanted six hundred 
men of the regiment, to go to the Hotel de Ville, and 
protect the senate that was assembling there. At this 
fatal news, the colonel was at first seized with alarm, 
and his grief for the death of the emperor made him 
shed tears. The disorder of his mind did not permit 
him to reflect on the news he had heard, nor cast his 
eyes on the suspicious person thq,t stood before him. 
He ordered the guard to assemble, and, overwhelmed 
with consternation, left Mallet master of his forces. 
The name of a republic, which recalled to mind licen- 
tiousness, was a counterpoise to the death of the em- 
peror. The most brilliant promises and temptations 
were held out ; the officers all believed what Mallet 
chose to tell them. Each soldier was to be rewarded 
by advancement and double pay ; the officers were to 
get drafts on the treasury, of twenty and even fifty 
thousand francs : for Mallet had provided against 
every difficulty. He soon got together four hundred 
men, at whose head he went to seek his accomplices, 
and the future ministers of France, in the prison of 
La Force. In that prison there had been in confine- 
ment, for some time, an adjutant-general, named Gui- 



COUJNT LAVALLETTE. 107 

dal, and General Lahorie, of whom I have already 
spoken. Both had served with Mallet, but had heard 
nothhig- more of him, and were totally ignorant of his 
plans. Mallet entered the prison, claimed his two old 
comrades, and told the great news. The jailer refus- 
ing to deliver his prisoners, he signed their liberation, 
introduced two hundred men, and went to Lahorie's 
chamber. The first words Mallet said to him were : 
" You are the minister of police. Rise, dress yourself, 
and follov/ me." Poor Lahorie, who now saw, for the 
first time during a lapse of twelve years, a man whom 
he had never looked upon as quite compos mentiSy 
imagined all he heard was but a dream, and rubbed 
his eyes while looking at him. At last the assurance 
of the death of the emperor, of the assembling of the 
senate, of the re-establishment of the republic, con- 
vinced him that he once more witnessed another of 
those revolutions so common in modern history. He 
rose, dressed himself, and found six hundred men at 
the gate. With Guidal by his side, he immediately 
went to the minister of police, who was still in bed. 
The soldiers entered quietly and without any obstacle ; 
when, finding the door of the minister's chamber 
locked, they broke it open with the butt ends of their 
muskets. The minister waking at the noise, jumped 
out of bed, and, without waiting to dress himself, rushed 
upon the murderers. He was seized, and treated in 
the most brutal manner ; but at last, at sight of the pri- 
soner Lahorie, and the intelligence of the death of the 
emperor, he began to comprehend that he was the vic- 
tim and dupe of a revolution. He obtained, not with- 
out some trouble, leave to dress ; and Guidal led him, 
escorted by a detachment, to the prison of La Force. • 
On the Pont Neuf he jumped from the cabriolet, but 
was retaken. When he arrived at the prison, the jailer 
burst into tears. Savary whispered to him — "Place 
me in your darkest dungeon, and hide the key of it. 
God knows what is the meaning of this, but it will all 
clear up." A few moments later, the prefect of police 
was also brought to the prison : a detachment had 
gone to fetch him, and had dragged him along. Whilst 
the heads of the police were thus treated. Mallet went 
f to General Hullin, commander of the military division 
and of the city of Paris. The general was just getting 
up to receive an order from the minister of the war 



108 MEMOIRS OF 

department, which could be delivered into no hands 
but his own. Mallet was accompanied by some offi- 
cers of his troop. On seeing the general, he said to 
him with the greatest coolness, and with an air of 
gravity, " I am very mortified, general, to have so pain- 
ful a commision to execute ; but my orders are to 
arrest you." Hullin remonstrated ; and looking at 
Mallet, whose face he knew, he said, " How ! Mallet, 
is it you? You arrest me — a prisoner? How did you 
come here? What is your business doing here?" — 
" The emperor is dead." These words struck Hullin 
dumb, and Mallet repeated the fable he had invented. 
However, the arrest and the order to go to prison appear- 
ed wondrous strange to the general. He continually 
spoke of the death of the emperor, and his own impri- 
sonment: — at length asked Mallet to show him his 
order. " Very willingly," replied the other : " will you 
step with me into your closet?" Hullin turned round, 
and as he was entering the closet, he fell, struck by a 
bullet that touched his head. While lying on the 
ground, he saw his murderer looking coolly at him, 
and preparing to fire once more ; but, thinking him 
dead, he left the place. He crossed the Place Ven- 
dome, and went to the staff", whither he had sent be- 
fore him a letter, acquainting the adjutant-general, 
N***, that he was advanced to the rank of major-ge- 
neral. The latter, when he saw Mallet, could not dis- 
guise his doubts. Struggling between his duty and his 
ambition, he was perhaps at the point of yielding, and 
entering into arrangements, when one of the heads of 
the military police, the old Colonel Laborde, came into 
the apartment. The appearance of that man showed 
sufficiently that he could be neither deceived nor 
seduced. Mallet was therefore going to blow out his 
brains, when Laborde seized him abruptly by his arm, 
called for assistance, and had him arrested. This La- 
borde was an old soldier, who, having long retired 
from active service, had chosen Paris for his camp and 
the scene of his observations. Attached to the police 
under all possible governments, no one could impose 
upon him by illusions. His youth had been passed in 
vice, and he now felt pleasure in pursuing it in its last 
holds. He made use of his privilege with all the des- 
potism which subalterns of that class love to exercise 
upon the rabble. Rank, titles, glory, virtue, crime 



COUNT LWALLETTE. 109 

itself, is sacred to them as long as it remains prosper- 
ous ; but, as soon as the day of misfortune arrives 
they trample upon every thing, and neither respect 
nor pity must be expected from them. Laborde had 
seen Mallet in prison. At the first report of the minis- 
ter of police being arrested, he set himself at the head 
of a platoon of infantry, went to the office, and found 
Lahorie calmly seated at his desk, writing orders, after 
those he had given at the Hotel de Ville. He had him 
immediately seized, and tied to his arm chair, while he 
addressed to him reproaches that opened the unfortu- 
nate Lahorie's eyes to the madness of Mallet. He 
then went to the staff, where he arrested the latter, 
and, flying to the prison, he delivered the minister and 
prefect of police. The prefect went home ; but his 
hotel being still full of the soldiers who had arrested 
him, they pursued him, and he was glad to find a refuge 
in a neighbouring house. All these scenes, well de- 
serving of a place in the Arabian Nights' Entertam- 
raents, happened between five and eight o'clock in the 
morning. By nine all was over ; and the happy in- 
habitants of Paris, when they awoke, learned the sin- 
gular event, and made some lolerably good jokes upon 
it. 

The attempt of Mallet Wa*' nothing more than the 
extravagance of a madman whose imagination had 
been excited. It made, however, a deep impression on 
the public, and became a subject of dismal reflection. 
In the following year, the royalists did not fail to place 
Mallet among the number of their martyrs, and ho- 
noured with the name of a Bourbonian attempt, the 
mad freak of a man, who, far from ever having be- 
longed to that party, had always been worked upon by 
republican ideas. His plan was a sufficient demonstra- 
tion of that. He had planned the assembling of the 
senate ; he had spoken of nothing else to the soldiers 
than the re-establishment of liberty and the republic ; 
and he could only hope to succeed by stirring up the 
lowest classes of the people. Would the confusion 
have been considerable, and long enough for him to 
have succeeded, in case the emperor had really been 
killed ? I do not believe it ; but at least I must sup- 
pose, from the knowledge I had of his character, that 
he would not have fled, but would have committed 
suicide. The noble firmness he showed until the mo- 
, 10 



110 MEMOIRS OF 

ment of his death, is a proof of that. A few days after 
he had been arrested, news was received from the em- 
peror. He was by no means disconcerted, and ex- 
pressed no other feeling than that of regret for the loss 
of liberty, and the prolongation of the emperor's des- 
potism. i?he most incredible thing was, that in the 
midst of the confusion, during three hours, nobody 
thought of the empress or her son. The prefect of the 
department had quietly slept at his country seat in the 
forest of Vincennes. He was coming home on horse- 
back, when an express met him, and delivered to him 
a note, wherein he found, written with pencil, these 
two words, " Fuit Imperator."" At first they appeared 
inexplicable. The express had not waited for an an- 
swer ; and it was only after a good deal of reflection, 
and after having read the note four times, that he at 
last understood it. He hastened to the Hotel de Ville, 
where he found every thing in confusion, and General 
Lahorie already giving orders for the Assembly. He 
then burst into tears, and found no other resource but 
submission. The colonel who first had been surprised 
by Mallet, did not show either more firmness or more 
presence of mind than the prefect. All those who had 
been surprised by the news, carried their refleciion no 
farther. It seemed as i,f, every thing was over by the 
^ealh of "the emperor, and that he had taken along 
with him not only the secret of his government, but all 
the foresight and energy of those who were devoted to 
him. There is not the least doubt but two hours later 
every one would have come to their sensses ; but then, 
perhaps, it would have been too late. I did not con- 
ceal this observation from the emperor, who looked 
very grave when he heard it. Generals Mallet, La- 
hone, and Guidal, who were arrested a few hours after 
the rest, and about fifteen poor officers, who had com- 
mitted no other fault than obeying generals whom they 
looked upon as their leaders, were condemned to death. 
In going to the fatal spot, these officers cried, " Long 
live the emperor !" They all died with a courage bor- 
dering on indifference : several of them were not killed 
at the first discharge, and they reproached the soldiers 
for their awkwardness. 

CHAPTER XHL 

The first account from the emperor, dated from the 
Beresina, brought the distressing particulars of the re- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. Ill 

treat. Those that were given in the bulletins, and 
especially in the 29th, could not be read without horror. 
It was not surprising that many persons should have 
been deluded by the austere energy that had pre- 
sided over their composition, and should even feel some 
indignation at it. Accustomed for so long a period to 
nothing but triumph, the particulars of our first defeat, 
accompanied by so much calamity, spread consternation 
all over France. The enemies of the emperor grew 
more numerous, and skilfully made use of the circum- 
stance to raise an outcry against his tyranny. Just as 
the agitation of the public mind was at the strongest, 
his arrival at the Tuileries was suddenly published. He 
admitted every body; showed severity towards some, — 
intrepidity in presence of all. He explained the cause 
of the misfortune of the campaign, and without seeking 
to dissemble the fault that had been committed, he 
boldly claimed the support he wanted, to begin the war 
anew, repel the enemy, and conclude a peace, of which 
he more than any one felt the absolute necessity. His 
noble courage in wrestling with misfortune electrified 
the whole country. Three hundred thousand men 
were granted ; the young came forward vi^ith courage, — 
the old, with firmness. Within a few months an army 
was raised, admirably brave, though still uninstructed ; 
and the fields of Lutzen and Bautzen witnessed fresh 
triumphs. The disasters of the campaign of Moscow 
had brought Russia and Austria to an understanding, 
and alarmed the powers of the second class. Peace 
was, however, proposed to the emperor, but they 
had no longer to treat with the sovereign of the 
world. He began to feel that, after having been 
conquered by the elements, he would be so by man. 
Though his last battles had turned out in his favour, he 
npw saw that he might have rivals. Pretensions were 
brought forward, the most important of which was that 
he should give up his influence over Germany, and 
abandon that part of the continent to the left bank of 
the Rhine. If he had consented, he would have aban- 
doned the confederation, the house of Saxony, and the 
kingdom of Westphalia—that is to say, he would have 
dethroned his brother. He would perhaps have done so 
one day of his own accord, but he could not bear to be 
commanded. The emperor felt that a power contested 
in that way is a fallen power. His proud mind, which 



112 MEMOIRS or 

never knew how to stoop, recoiled at the proposals. The 
negotiations broke off, and he began the war again, 
without considering the youth and inexperience of his 
soldiers, or the discontent of his generals-in-chief. He 
fought like a lion, but like a lion forced into its den. I 
must, however, acknowledge that he was badly second- 
ed. A short time after that period, some particulars 
were told me in confidence, but with so much appear- 
ance of truth, that I cannot omit mentioning them here. 
The Cossacks were a new engine, which made the war 
perilous, especially to the officers who went out to re- 
connoitre. Several of them, and particularly those of 
the general staff, who were chosen indiscriminately by 
the major-general, preferred giving us reports taken 
from peasants, to exposing themselves at a distance to 
the attacks of the Cossacks. By this means the em- 
peror could no longer ascertain the truth. The reports 
he received were all satisfactory, because they were not 
true. He thought himself able to resist, because he 
entertained a false idea of the strength of the 
enemy. He commenced the battle of Leipsic in 
the full persuasion that the enemy's forces were but 
half as numerous as they really were. He lost the bat- 
tle, and that defeat completely disorganised his army. 
His new retreat was more disastrous still than when he 
came from Russia. The army still however made one 
effort at Hanau. A German who owed the first foun- 
dation of his fortune to the emperor, whose praises con- 
stitute all his glory, dared to resist him at Hanau, after 
having abused the confidence of his sovereign, and 
forced him to abandon his allies; but the troops he 
commanded were destroyed. This was the last struggle 
of Antaeus in the arms of Hercules. A month later, 
when he had again set his foot on the land of his birth, 
his strength returned; and if he was finally levelled to 
the ground, it was only when treason joined its efforts 
to those of violence. 

I The army returned in the most grievous disorder. 
The sick and wounded were innumerable. There were 
neither hospitals nor private houses enough to contain 
them all ; and the most destructive of all diseases, the 
typhus, attacked not only the army, but all the towns 
and villages through which the troops passed. 

The emperor returned for the second time to Paris on 
the 10th or 11th of November. The attachment of the 



COUNT LA VALLETTE. 113 

French for him was so great, that on all sides nothing 
was heard but cries of grief; and if here and there some 
insults were uttered, they must be laid to the account 
of the emigrants, who began to foresee his fall and the 
return of the Bourbons. He remained about six weeks 
in Paris. I think I have already said in these memoirs, 
that whenever he was unfortunate he turned to mc. I 
must not be proud of that circumstance. My attach- 
ment to his person was a duty, — my antipathy to ambi- 
tion and intrigue was natural to me. A habit of reflec- 
tion made me in general consider affairs in their true 
light ; and as I was very conveniently placed for ob- 
serving them in their ensemble, I gave him my opinion 
with a frankness and sincerity to which the ear of so- 
vereigns is but little accustomed. At my arrival, he 
commanded me to come every evening into the bath- 
room next to his bed-chamber. He then had me called 
into him, while he warmed himself, undressed before 
the fire. We talked familiarly together for an hour 
before he went to bed. The first evening I found him 
so cast down, so overwhelmed, that I was frightened. 
I went to see his secretary, who was my friend. I 
communicated to him my fears that his mind, formerly 
so strong, had begun to sink. " You need not fear," he 
replied ; " he has lost nothing of his energy; but in the 
evening you see him quite bent down with fatigue. 
He goes to bed at eleven o'clock, and he is up at three 
o'clock in the morning ; and till night, every moment is 
devoted to business. It is time to put an end to this, 
for he must sink under it, and I shall fall before 
him." 

The principal subject of our conversation was the 
situation of France. I used to tell him with a degree 
of frankness, the truth of which could alone make him 
pardon its rudeness, that France was fatigued to an ex- 
cess i that it was quite impossible for her to bear much 
longer the burthen with which she was loaded, and that 
she would undoubtedly throw off" the yoke, and accord- 
ing to custom seek an alleviation to her sufferings in 
novelty, her favourite divinity. I said in particular a 
great deal of the Bourbons, who, I observed, would finally 
inherit his royal spoil, if ever fortune laid him low. 
The mention of the Bourbons made him thoughtful, 
and he threw himself on his bed without uttering a 
word ; but after a few minutes, having approached to 
10* 



1 1 4 3IEM0IRS or 

know whether I might retire, I saw that he had fallen 
into a profound sleep. 

He was then husy with the organization of the Na- 
tional Guards of Paris. The choice of the commanders 
was a very important point. He spoke frequently with 
me about that organization. I wished it to be as mili- 
tary as possible. It appeared to me of very great con- 
sequence to compose it of ancient w arriors, who having 
their homes and the national glory to defend, would 
electrify the citizens, and easily find in the ardentyouth 
of the metropolis an army of brave men sufficient at 
least to repel the enemy from their walls. I could not 
draw from him a single observation on the point, not- 
withstanding the warmth with which I spoke. The 
list of the superior officers was at last presented, I do 
not now recollect by whom ; but, the very day of the 
presentation, the prefect * * * came to pay me a visit, 
to acquaint me that I stood on the list as commander of 
a division. In the evening I went to the emperor, accord- 
ing to custom. Marshal Berthier came there, and the em- 
peror said to him in my presence : " Do you know whom 
I have appointed as colonel of the National Guards ?'* 
He then read over his list, and instead of my name, I 
heard that of Jaubert governor of the bank of France. 
Berthier thought the choice very good ; and I was not 
surprised at it. As for me, I was angry at the circum- 
stance, (though there was nothing but blows to be gain- 
ed,) and I left the room. The following day, after mass, 
I stood at the audience next to Jaubert. He was a 
councillor of state, formerly a barrister at Bordeaux, an 
honourable and clever man, but who never had had any 
thing to do with the army, and who was besides rather 
a little ridiculous as a military man on account of his 
figure and his habits of life. The emperor went up to 
him, and he thanked him respectfully for the new dig- 
nity with which he had been invested. The emperor 
smiled, and said with that joking air so severe in a so- 
vereign : " You never rode on horseback, I believe?" — 
" I beg your pardon, sire !" — " Oh yes, I suppose you 
rode on a pony from Bordeaux to Tonnelle ;" and then 
he passed on to another. Poor Jaubert nevertheless 
loaded his two shoulders with the marks of his rank ; 
but he never showed himself more worthy of the law- 
yer's cloak than the day the enemy attacked the capi- 
tal. 



COUNT LAV ALLETTE. 115 

This singular composition of the staff of the National 
Guards was explained by the still more singular form of 
the Parisian fortifications. Plain palisadoes surrounded, 
ridiculously enough, the barriers of the city ; they 
were barely sufficient to stop a few straggling Cossacks 
who might intrude so far. He did not wish to frighten 
the Parisians, and draw them from their amusements, 
by an appearance of formidable fortifications, and by 
a warlike composition of the National Guards. He 
undoubtedly thought that if he proved unable to beat 
the enemy, it would be useless to try to defend a city 
that presented so few means of resistance and so many 
resources for rebellion. Before he set off, he assembled 
at the Tuileries all the oflacers of the National Guards, 
and taking his son in his arms, he presented him to 
the assembly, and made a speech that electrified every 
heart. The cries of " Long live the emperor !" were 
so energetic and so unanimous, that I was persuaded 
for some time that a feeling expressed with so much 
enthusiasm might perhaps produce some fine result. A 
little reflection, however, recalled the dismal truth that 
penetrated my soul. I saw the emperor again in the 
evening : he spoke to me of what had happened in the 
morning. I told him freely thatthe disposition of the pub- 
lic mind would remain good as long as the enemy should 
not come near Paris ; but that it ought not to be put 
to the test if the enemy approached. He smiled, and, 
pulling me by the ear according to his custom, he said: 
" You old Roman ! you have no illusions." " No, sire," 
I replied ; ^ but I rest great hopes on this campaign, 
and a fine victory will do more good than all this morn- 
ing's enthusiasm." " Ah !" said he, getting into bed, 
" it must be gained !" 

I remained that night at the Tuileries. He started 
at four o'clock in the morning. He appeared cheerful, 
firm, and in perfect good health. I had always seen 
him so when departing, and the state of his mind in- 
spired me with fresh confidence. 

General Sebastiani returned from the army and re- 
mained two days at Paris. He gave me sad particulars 
of the campaign. The enemies were- so numerous, the 
disasters so great, the country so horribly ravaged, that 
it appeared difficult for the emperor to hold out much 
longer. He soon felt, after the observations I made, 
how dangerous it would be to make known his alarms, 



116 MEMOIRS OF 

which he had already in some way propagated ; and 
wishing to neutralize their effect, he mentioned the 
necessity of defending Paris as the only means of saving 
France. Furious complaints and sarcasms arose against 
him in Talleyrand's circle, and among all the high no- 
bility, who already were in correspondence with the 
Count d'Artois. He left the capital, hooted by the emi- 
grants ; and if he told the emperor all he really thought, 
I cannot but think that it was upon his report that the 
emperor commanded the minister of police to arrest 
Prince Talleyrand, and send him far from the metro- 
polis. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

While the emperor, opposed by all the armies of Eu- 
rope, was struggling like a lion, running from one to 
another, thwarting all the manoeuvres of the enemy by 
the rapidity of his movements, deceiving them in all 
their calculations, and exhausting them wiih fatigue, 
other foes, much more dangerous than they, were in 
Paris entering into a secret league with foreigners, to 
hasten his fall. M. de Talleyrand, whom they had cho- 
sen for their leader, did not, however, second their hos- 
tile measures as much as their impatience required. 
The great name of Napoleon, — fifteen years of brilliant 
victories, — the inexhaustible resources of his genius, 
— his unconquerable vigour of mind, — the still existing 
possibility of a peace in the midst of battle, — finally, 
the sentiments of France, who still wished well to the 
emperor, — all these circumstances rendered the greatest- 
prudence necessary. Besides, what had he to expect 
from the Bourbons ? Could they have forgotten that his 
conduct had been ever hostile towards them for the last 
five and twenty years ? — Director of the Constituent 
Assembly, — minister of the Directory, and Napoleon, — 
a married priest, how could he find grace in their eyes? 
On the other hand, if France finally triumphed over so 
many enemies, what would he not have to fear from an 
irritated conqueror, who could not but be acquainted 
with his treasonable conduct ? Was he destined to end, 
far from his country and in exile, the last days of an 
infirm and disgraced old age ? He therefore did his 
utmost to keep his friends in bounds ; and, that he 
might not be crushed by the violent measures of the 
boisterous minister of police, his ingenuity and skill 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 117 

were exercised to throw trouble and perplexity in the 
way of the Duke de Rovigo. It was he who, according- 
to public report, had presided at the execution of the 
Duke d'Enghein: he had not striven to hide the parti- 
culars of it, whicii had been exaggerated ; and nothing 
could equal the hatred the royalists bore him. He had 
a numerous family, and his fortune was not sufficient 
for him to do without the salary he drew from govern- 
ment. 

How could he besides preserve his rank, or even his 
tranquillity, under the reign of the Bourbons? M. de 
Talleyrand, after having presented him with a faithful 
picture of what his situation would be in case the em- 
peror should fall, an event which appeared scarcely to 
be avoided, applauded his fidelity and devotion ; but ad- 
vised him not to shut out from himself all possibility of 
pardon, or even favour, at the hands of Louis XVIH. by 
taking measures of rigour and violence against the 
royalists, the consequences of which might be fatal even 
to the emperor himself, as they might occasion disturb- 
ance in the capital, which the police would not be able 
to suppress. The minister was most certainly shaken. 
The Messrs. Polignac, who had been confined since the 
affair of Georges, first in a state prison, and then in a 
maison de santd, escaped about that time, after having 
given a thorough beating to the police inspector, who 
was to have transferred them to a prison a considerable 
distance from Paris. The Dutchess of Rovigo was 
their relative ; and a few days after the entrance of the 
Count d' Artois, the duke told me that the Messrs. Polig- 
nac had just been with him, and had requested him to 
publish in print that it was to him they owed their li- 
berty. He waived the proposal ; but it was easy to 
judge that he was not sorry the count should believe 
the truth of the anecdote. 

1^' After the battle of Montereau,the emperor had given 
the Duke de Rovigo an order to send M. de Talleyrand 
from Paris, with a positive injunction to cut off all 
communication between him and his friends in the 
metropolis. I was in the duke's closet when he opened 
the despatch, which grieved him extremely. " What 
is the emperor thinking of?" he said. " Have not I 
enough to do to keep in awe all the royalists in France ? 
Does he want to throw another Faubourg St. Germain 
on my shoulders ? Talleyrand alone is able to keep 



1 1 8 MEMOIRS OF 

them at peace, and prevent them from taking some 
foolish step. I shall not execute that order, and by 
and by the emperor will thank me for it." 

The measure would nevertheless have been very 
wise. The royalists would have been without leaders, 
and the enemy without directors or encouragement. 
They would perhaps not have dared to venture their 
march upon Paris, wliich proved so fatal to the emperor. 
Marmont would not have signed the truce of the 30th 
of March, and Napoleon would have gained the twelve 
hours he wanted to enable him to reach the capital. 

That deplorable prepossession of the Duke de Rovi- 
go, who nevertheless remained faithful, was not the 
only cause of our misfortunes. All persons attached 
to government soon shared the same feeling, — all had 
fallen into dismay and discouragement ; and with the 
exception of Boulay de la Meurthe, Thibaudeau, and 
some other retainers of the revolution, familiar with 
political disturbances, who had nothing to expect and 
every thing to fear from the Bourbons, all the others 
were only intent on saving some part of the wreck for 
themselves. The emperor had appointed his brother 
Joseph lieutenant-general of Paris. That prince, 
though a man of amiable mind and extended informa- 
tion, wanted energy : he could neither persuade the 
council, nor excite the people, who were only waiting 
for a leader. To say the truth, he was distinguished 
by nothing but his obsolete title of king of Spain ; and 
the peninsular war had cost too much blood for any 
gratitude or confidence to attach to the person for 
whose profit it was undertaken. The Archchancelior 
Cambaceres, a learned lawyer, but a stranger, more by 
character than even by the habits of his life, to those 
energetic resolutions which great dangers require, 
could do nothing but submit to the common fate. The 
Duke de Feltre, minister of the war department, a 
good secretary, but a man of a narrow mind, and the 
slave of his vanity, which stuck to every thing, served 
the emperor with suspicious carelessness, and dreamed 
already of the prodigious honour he would acquire by 
being a minister of the Bourbons. A council, at which 
the empress presided, was held at the moment the 
enemy entered Nancy, while pursuing Marshals Ra- 
gusa and Treviso. The empress requested that a re- 
solution might be taken in regard to herself and her 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 119 

son, for she relied no longer on her father, and no ac- 
counts had arrived for several days from the emperor. 
None but generous advice ought to have been given to 
her. Boulay de la Meurthe took the task upon him- 
self, and recalling to her memory the conduct of her 
grandmother, Maria Theresa, in presence of the Hun- 
garians, he said, " Madam, go to the Hotel de Ville ; 
cross the streets of Paris with your son in your arms. 
The whole capital will accompany you to the advanced 
posts. Acquaint the allied sovereigns with your reso- 
lution to remain in Paris, surrounded by your faithful 
subjects, to share their dangers, and to descend only 
by force from the throne, on which you seated yourself 
amidst the applause of those very nations and kings 
who now besiege you." 

This energetic advice appeared to the weakness of 
the others no better than revolutionary boasting. Cara- 
baceres read a letter from the emperor, but of old date, 
which contained the order never to expose the empress 
and her son to the risk of falling into the hands of the 
enemy. This put an end to debate, and a resolution 
was taken to send the court to Blois, with the members 
of government. 

Among the considerations that determined the coun- 
cil not to follow the advice of keeping the empress in 
Paris, one of the most important, and which had a 
great influence over the deliberations, was the fate of 
the emperor. 

In fact, v.'hat would have become of him, if the allies 
had acknowledged the king of Rome and the regency? 
Paris would have shut its gates upon him. The peo- 
pie, reduced to the utmost ex;tremity, would have sub- 
mitted to the new governm'ent. The army would un- 
doubtedly have recoiled at the idea of a civil war, or 
the enemy would quietly have destroyed it. Besides, 
could the empress sign the destruction of her husband ? 
For it was not possible to keep him at liberty near 
France ; and his situation would have become so \ery 
peculiar, that there would perhaps not have been one 
corner in all Europe, where the conqueror of the world 
could have rested his head in peace ; whilst his wife 
and his best friends would have been forced, for the 
interests of their country, to wish for his everlasting 
proscription. 

When the empress was leaving Paris with all the 



120 MEMOIRS OP 

ministers, the two corps of Marshals Marniont and 
Mortier hastily retreated to the heights round the 
capital, pursued by the Russians and Prussians, who 
had at last resolved, by the pressing solicitation of M. 
de Talleyrand, to advance and make themselves mas- 
ters of the city. The two corps did not muster above 
fourteen thousand men. Some thousand troops, drawn 
from the depots at Versailles and Rambouiilet, were 
sent to join them. The brave young men of the Poly- 
technical Institution flew to their aid on the hills of 
Chaumont, and a {"ew battalions of National Guards 
went also out of the barriers. All these troops fought 
bravely ; but the forces of the enemy, augmenting 
from hour to hour, v.?ere by no means in proportion 
with those of the besieged. Prince Joseph, having no 
precise instruction for so unforeseen a circumstance, 
did not dare to take upon himself to prolong the de- 
fence, without any appearance of success. The people, 
and especially the inhabitants of the suburbs, would 
not have refused to fight. Some already prepared to 
unpave the streets, to raise battlements on the houses 
that were nearest to the barriers, and to take all pos- 
sible precaution against cavalry, and to fire in case the 
enemy were to carry things to such an extremity. 
The people, as I have said, were well disposed ; but 
towards the evening of the 29th of March, there were 
no public authorities in the city but Marshal Moncey, 
commander of the National Guards, the two prefects 
of the department, and the police. In leaving Paris, 
the ministers had onjoined them to do all in their 
power to preserve the peace, and provide for the sub- 
sistence of the inhabitants. Five days had elapsed 
since any certain news had arrived from the emperor, 
and all means of communication were intercepted. In 
vain I sent off intrepid couriers, and, during the last 
two days, several fleet and clever messengers. They 
were bearers of letters written in cypher, wherein I 
begged the emperor to return at any price. I told 
him that the police was no longer strong enough to 
repress the royalists ; that his presence alone could 
put a stop to the evil, and that he was lost beyond re- 
source if the enemy got possession of the capital. It 
is unfortunately true that the agents of government 
attached for a long time to a system of absolute au- 
thority, and accustomed never to take the smallest 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 121 

responsibility upon themselves, trembled at the idea of 
adopting any measure without the special order of the 
emperor: some, because he was the master of all ; 
others, because the passing events appeared above ull 
human power. Prince Joseph was the first who yielded 
to the general dejection. After casting a look of dis- 
may on the plain of St. Denis, covered with foreign 
soldiers and smoking villages, he fled to Blois, autho- 
rising the two marshals to sign a capitulation that 
might save the capital. 

Officers, sent on parley by Prince Schwartzenburg, 
came to the Duke de Ragusa, and declared, that if the 
gates of Paris were not opened to them before night, 
the next day it would be too late, and that the capital 
would be delivered over to all the rigour of military 
execution. 

The duke had no news from' the emperor: and al- 
though he was given to understand that notwithstand- 
ing the threats of the enemy, there could be no danger 
in waiting till next day, — that it was possible Napoleon 
might arrive in the night, — that Alexander would cer- 
tainly not rush madly with his army in the midst of so 
populous a capital, the inhabitants of which were 
highly incensed ; — yet Marmont, confused, and not 
wishing perhaps to leave to another the honour of 
saving Paris, resolved to sign the capitulation, without 
having received any direct order to that effect from 
his general and sovereign. 

1 went to his house on the evening of the 30th of 
March. He was still at table, and next to him sat 
Count OrlofF, and several other Russian officers. He 
came to meet me, led me to a private room, and there 
did his best to prove that he could not have acted 
otherwise than he had done ; that with less than 
twenty-eight thousand men, any farther defence would 
be but useless spilling of blood. That I acknow- 
ledged ; but could he not wait until the next day to 
sign ? Twelve hours' delay might be of an immense 
benefit to the emperor. 1 could not suppose it pos- 
sible that he should not be met by at least one of the 
great numbers of couriers I had despatched. I was 
convinced that his presence would re-establish affairs. 
The marshal was inflexible : he was too far engaged 
to be able to draw back. The chief heights round the 
capital were already occupied by the enemy. Our sit- 
11 



122 MEMOIRS OF 

uation was terrible, it is true : but the presence of the 
emperor was alone worth an army. The people, 
already well disposed, and full of ardour at the sight 
of their sovereign, would have done wonders. 

1 had received no orders to go to Blois. 1 there- 
fore thought I would set off witii the Duke de Ragusa, 
who had acquainted me with his plan of going to 
Fontainebleau. I left him with an intention of coming 
back, when, on going out of the apartment, 1 met 
Prince Talleyrand and his emissary Bourrienne, who 
were slipping up to the second floor. The sight of 
them was enough for me. These two men, who were 
in open treason, had undoubtedly come to involve the 
marshal in their toils. M. Pasquier had accompanied 
me in my carriage. I communicated my suspicions to 
him. " What shall I say to you ?" he answered : '' all 
seems to be over ; there is nothing more to be done." 
I set him down at the prefecture of police, and retired 
to my lodgings in the Faubourg St. Germain, deter- 
mined never to re-enter the post-office. A little be- 
fore daybreak I received an express with letters from 
the emperor to the empress. The courier informed 
me that Napoleon had arrived during the night at the 
stage called LaCour de France, and that there he had 
heard the fatal news of the capitulation. The unfor- 
tunate prince had been flying with all his speed to save 
his capital. The blow was terrible for him : he sat 
down on the parapet of the fountains of Juvisy, and 
remained above a quarter of an hour with his head 
resting on his two hands, lost in the most painful re- 
flections ; after which he set off" again for Fontaine- 
bleau. 

The following day I returned to M. Pasquier's : he 
had just come back from the camp, whither he had 
been summoned by the emperor of Russia. *' You 
took your resolution last night," he said to me. " 1 
adopted mine this morning. I have received an order 
to continue my functions. Napoleon's reign is over, 
and I have written to Fontainebleau to acquaint them 
that they must no longer reckon on me. My family has 
always been attached to the house of Bourbon. 1 have 
served the emperor faithfully. 1 have taken no share 
in the events which have cast him from the throne, and 
1 return to the ancient dynasty." " I do not pretend to 
discuss your motives," was my reply ; " but for me, I 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 123 

owe every thing to the emperor : I shall not go near 
his successor. My public career is at an end, and I 
return to my obscurity. I have only one favour to 
claim of you : protect me in that retreat wliere I in- 
tend to go and live with my family, and let not ma- 
levolence disturb the peace J wish to enjoy." 

With these words we separated. I was already con- 
vinced that, with the men Louis XVIII. was obliged 
to make use of, his difficulties would multiply at every 
step ; and without foreseeing as yet the events that 
broke out eleven months later, I was glad to remain a 
stranger to duties for which I felt so strong an aver- 
sion, that neither the sanctity of an oath, nor the most 
rigid integrity, could have bound me to them on the 20th 
of March following, without the greatest struggle and 
grief on my part. 

The Emperor Alexander entered the city at the 
head of several beautiful divisions of infantry, appointed 
as if for a parade. He was preceded by a numerous 
and brilliant staff. As the procession advanced along 
the Boulevards, it was soon augmented by numbers of 
Frenchmen whom our armies had never seen in their 
ranks. The Montmorencys, the Dondeauvilles, the 
Noailles, who then faced the enemy for the first time, 
were eager to welcome him to the metropolis, and to 
lay at his feet the homage of the French people. One 
might have thought, for twenty years France had been 
wishing for their presence. A little farther, all the 
genteel company of the Paris drawing-rooms joined 
the retinue. Women dressed out as for a fete,, and 
almost frantic with joy, waved their pocket handker- 
chiefs, and cried, "Long live the Emperor Alexander!'* 
The windows of the houses and the open windows 
were filled with people. 1 was not so far off but that I 
distinguished among them many ladies whose hus- 
bands had long tilled elevated stations in the fallen 
court, and who themselves, loaded with honour and 
riches, had been attached to the service of the two 
empresses. I might name them, — but wherefore dis- 
grace their memory ? Many of them will have de- 
scended into the grave before this work appears, and 
their children ought not to be punished for the shameful 
conduct of their parents. 

The Emperor Alexander had nowhere on his march 
witnessed this boasted enthusiasm of the French for 



124 MEMOIRS OF 

the king and his family. He was candid enough to 
acknowledge this at a council held at M. de Talley- 
rand's. It was therefore through motives of policy, 
and the necessity of circumstances, that the latter per- 
suaded him not to establish a regency. The absence 
of the emperor of Austria, the unpopularity of his 
minister, Metternich, who was present, the force of 
old recollections, and perhaps also the falling off of the 
Duke de Ragusa, swayed his resolution. 

While these discussions were going on in Paris, Na- 
poleon, at Fontainebleau, had already recovered from 
the blow he had experienced. He sounded the danger 
of his position, and calculated his resources. He every 
day reviewed his troops, animated them by his pre- 
sence, and looked as if he wished to familiarize them 
with the idea of marching back to Paris, and driving 
the enemy from the capital. Such an act of despair, 
in a man like him, might have had terrible conse- 
quences. Notwithstanding the severe discipline to 
whick the foreign troops were subjected, the troops, 
being too numerous for the barracks to contain them, 
were encamped at considerable distances from each 
other. Many officers lodged in hotels far from their 
troops. The play-houses, coffee-houses, ale-houses, 
and bagnios, were filled with them until a late hour of 
the night. Attacked on all sides, finding at every step 
some nev/ obstacle to their assembling, with enemies in 
every street, confusion might soon have spread among 
the troops, and the terrible cry of " Long live the em- 
peror !" resounding on a sudden, would have augment- 
ed the disorder, and exasperated the people. If driven 
out of the capital, and a battle lost in the plain, what 
would have been the fate of all these triumphant 
troops? This plan appeared feasible during forty- 
eight hours, and was secretly whispered among the 
people. Not only the soldiers, but even three-fourths 
of the officers, were by no means afraid to undertake 
it. But it was discovered by the marshals, and they 
opposed it through apparent motives of prudence, but 
in fact through weariness, and a secret wish to aban- 
don the emperor. The correspondence with Paris 
grew every moment more frequent, and the defections 
more numerous. Military commanders were all rich ; 
their families were in the enemy's power. To the 
anxiety with which they were tormented, they added 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 125 

the hope of remaining great men under the Bourbons. 
The promises made by the conspirators were un- 
bounded. The allies and the king would open their 
arms to them. They were already in idea marshals of 
France, of the old monarchy. The Cross of St. Louis, 
the Order of the Holy Ghost, governments, court fa- 
vours, their uncontested pre-eminence over the most 
ancient families, their names placed next to Turenne 
and Villars, seemed in their eyes to give them a lustre 
that would fear no comparison, even in future times. 
These childish illusions, — this sordid egotism, made 
them forget natural honour, and the faith they owed 
to their real sovereign. A few days were sufficient to 
deceive most of them. 

Alas ! at no period was it more requisite that a deep 
fueling of patriotism should have animated their hearts ! 
Twenty-two years before (I was then twenty-three,) 
when the Prussians spread over the plains of Cham- 
paigne, Paris and all France rushed out against the 
enemy. French youths, devoid of experience and in- 
struction, but conspicuous for love of their country, ex- 
asperated by generous fury, trampled on the old bands 
instructed by Frederick the Great. Now the barbar- 
ians of Russia, and all the European armies we had 
vanquished, paraded in our squares, sat insolently 
round our hearths ; and the French, who were again 
grown polite, whom prosperity and the luxury of a 
court had refined and enervated, looked on the strange 
scene with eyes of indifference. We deserved but too 
well our fate. 

The fire that animated our soldiers was extinguished 
when they learned that the emperor recoiled before ill 
fortune, and acknowledged himself vanquished. ]t 
was then that the army, in despair, felt obliged to sub- 
mit. 

However, the allied sovereigns had not expected 
that submission, and they showed their satisfaction by 
the treaty of the Uth of April. The title of emperor 
was left to Napoleon ; the island of Elba was given to 
him in full sovereignty ; a competent income was al- 
lowed, not only for him, but also for his family, and 
gratuities were granted to almost all the members of 
his military household. These various arrangements 
were made in presence of the Bourbons. The king 
refused to sign them, under the pretence that he could 
11* 



126 MEMOIRS OP 

not acknowledge Napoleon as an emperor; but it was 
agreed, and he engaged his word, that the treaty should 
be executed in all its stipulations. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Meanwhile the emperor departed for the island of 
Elba, and the rage of his enemies augmented with that 
circumstance. Neither his fall nor his banishment was 
able to satisfy them; — they sought his death, alone: 
and war having spared him, they resolved to get rid of 
him by assassination. This was the last homage paid 
to the genius of the emperor. A sort of superstitious 
awe had seized the minds of all those who had contri- 
buted to his overthrow. "As long as that man lives," 
they said at the Tuileries, " there will be no repose — 
no security for France." Maubriel's perverseness and 
desperate character, give a great deal of probability to 
all he has said of the proposals made to him by M. de 
Talleyrand. But that was not the only attempt made 
against him before his return from the island of Elba : 
he was nearly poisoned at Fontainebleau. Generals 
Drouet and Bertrand will undoubtedly publish one day 
what the latter told me of the horrible scenes that took 
place during the emperor's journey through the south 
of France, and all the efforts made by murderers sent 
to the island of Elba by the Governor of Corsica, M. 
Brulard. 

King Louis the Eighteenth made his solemn en- 
trance into Par's on the third of May. The wealthy 
portion of the population now took upon them to show 
that enthusiasm which the mob is accustomed to lavish 
on the men who dazzle their inconstant and unreflect- 
ing imaginations. The sun shone with all the bright- 
ness of spring, and added to the magnificence of the 
novel scene. Gendarmes opened the procession ; then 
came a great number of officers on horseback : some 
who, the day before, had been our foes on the field of 
battle, came to solicit a share of the royal largesse; 
others, old servants of the monarchy, had long held 
out their hands for imperial favours. By a singular 
distinction, or a cruel mockery, two companies of the 
imperial guards preceded the golden troop. The as- 
pect of those old warriors, covered with scars — their 
eyes fixed on the ground, their countenances dejected, 
the rage of their hearts depicted on their sun-burned 



COLKT LAVALLETTE. 127 

faces — inspired compassion. At last the king appeared 
in an open caleche, accompanied by the Duchess d'An- 
gouleme and the two princes of the house of Conde. 
The enormous bulk of the monarch, his harsh look and 
severe features, disconcerted the enthusiasm of those 
who had a close view of him ; and after the space of a 
few hours, there remained nothing, even in the mass 
of the population, but cold indifference for the for- 
tunate brother of Louis XVI. 

One of the four royal personages ought, however, to 
have excited very deep interest. The sight of the 
king recalled no recollections : the two old warriors, 
leaders of a legion that had bhone with so little lustre, 
represented nothing but an illustrious name and a 
cruel loss. The daughter of Louis XVL and Marie 
Antoinette,* on the contrary, delivered up in her ten- 
der youth to all the violence of revolutionary tyranny, 
— deprived of her parents, who died on the scaffold, — 
abandoned in the dungeon of an old tower, — was now 
passing slowly before that same Palais de Jiislice^ out 
of which her mother had gone in a cart to the scaffold. 
In passing that same palace she was about to inhabit, 
what cruel recollections 1 — what feelings of compas- 
sion and love might naturally have been excited ! — and 
still the marks of joy, the enthusiasm was lavished 
alone on the old monarch ! Was it that policy got the 
better of the more refined feelings of humanity, or that 
the women, who were the most numerous among the 
-crowd, are expected, even when moved by the most 
.noble feelings of the heart, to show alwa^'s the smallest 
part to persons of their own sex? 

The restoration of the royal family had been pre- 
pared v^ith much skill by M. de Talleyrand. It was, 
however, necessary to give it a legal character; and as 
the legislative body was not at that time sitting, they 
had recourse to the senate, which closed its political 
■existence by one of the most disgraceful acts recorded 
in history. In despite of all laws, the senate moved 
from the throne, and delivered over to foreigners their 
lawful sovereign, whom France had elected, and to 
whom they owed their existence. They had, more- 
over, the baseness to insult the prince they disowned. 
I am far from refusing to acknowledge the noble quali- 

* The Duchess of Angouleme. 



128 MEMOIRS OF 

tie?, the eminent services, and even the conspicuous 
virtues by which many members of the senate were 
recommended to public esteem; but the stain will 
nevertheless remain for ever fixed on that assembly, 
since no effort was tried, no resignations offered, no 
protest uttered by any one against that fatal sitting 
over which M. de Talleyrand presided. 

The first measure of the new government was to 
establish the administration, and punish or stifle the 
disturbances which disordered passions might occasion 
in the provinces at the news of its installation. 

But before we follow that government in its measures, 
it is necessary to cast a look upon the nation over which 
it was about to rule. France had been subjected to the 
forms of a republic, to which had succeeded the impe- 
rial monarchy. In 1814 but few influential leaders of' 
the republican government survived. With the excep- 
tion of Carnot and Barras, who had not bowed to Napo- 
leon, the rest had been mowed by the scythe of time, 
or seduced by the head of the empire. Merlin, Treil- 
hard, Sieyes, Fouche, and many others, had donned the 
robes of ministers and senators ; the Brutuses of 1793 
were now designated by the titles of duke, count, and 
even monseigneur. In the army I find none but Jour- 
dan, who did not enlist among the titled generals. 
Klebcr, Hoche, Desaix, and Moreau, were it is true, no 
more ; but would it be too much to suppose that these 
illustrious warriors, who fell in defending the independ- 
ence of their country, would have also bent under the 
imperial yoke ? 

13ut Louis XVIII. dazzled by the easy obedience of 
the nation to his predecessor, was far from suspecting 
what had been hidden under the imperial purple. He 
did not kirow what troubles, what cares, what increas- 
ing obstacles, perpetually arose against the former go- 
vernment. He did not suspect that the passion for li- 
berty had only been compressed, and that the contempt 
the nation felt for the last kings of his race extended to 
him. The hatred of the old court and the nobility, in- 
diflference in regard to religion, and contempt for the 
clergy, had acquired new energy under the imperial 
reign. The king did not know that the emperor had 
lost many adherents in all classes. Finally, since the 
departure of the present king in 1791, a new generation 
had arisen, and taken its rank in the social state. They 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 129 

were a grave population, full of energy, nursed in deep 
study, free from superstitious mummery, leaving college 
to fly to the field of battle. To them every career of 
science and ambition was open, and to their success in- 
capacity was the only obstacle. 

Nobody had told the king that all illusion in regard 
to the majesty of the throne had vanished. The em- 
peror had, in fact, never been a monarch, or at least the 
people had never experienced for him the superstitious 
awe with which tiiey had been wont to look upon Louis 
XIV. and Louis XV. 

He was admired only as a great man. The people 
beheld in him the gainer of so many battles, — the con- 
queror of so many kingdoms, — the invincible, the man 
of fate : but still he was always Bonaparte, — a glorious 
name, which his enemies have not been able to tarnish, 
nor he himself to deface. 

Louis XVIII. therefore, on his return, no longer found 
the halo of his house. In the eyes of sensible and cool- 
thinking persons, he was nothing more than an old gen- 
tleman of Versailles, whom circumstances again raised 
to a throne. His family and himself returned, however, 
with the old prejudices of five-and-twoiity years before. 
They thought that the revolution had been made by 
men, and not by the force of things, — a fatal mistake 
which had already ruined Louis XVL They began, 
therefore, to inquire of all they saw, who they were, 
and what they had done at various periods. An old 
rancour against the constituents, — an affected con- 
tempt for the nobles who had declared themselves in 
favour of the E.evolution, — a haughty indifference to- 
wards all the members of the preceding government — 
a disdainful and humiliating politeness towards the 
leaders of the army, because they had still their arms 
in their hands : — such were the features that marked 
the conduct of the court. 

The foreign sovereigns, in the midst of the intoxica- 
tion of their triumph, were however wise enough not 
to misuse it; and far from treating France with the 
violence of a conqueror who thinks he may dare what- 
ever he wishes, they seconded the patriot party in their 
efforts to prevent France, in her misfortune, from being 
deprived of all the laws by which she had been governed 
for the last thirty years. The pledges required by a 
civilised asfe were therefore laid down in a charter 



130 MEMOIRS OF 

granted by the king, under the wretched title of Ordi- 
nance of Reformation. The forms of the administration 
were preserved, and the agents of public authority pro- 
visionally maintained in their posts. Extraordinary 
commissaries were sent into all the departments, to 
enlighten and calm the public mind. These commissa- 
ries, chosen for the most part among the disinterested, 
and among the enemies of the emperor, obtained but 
little success. Private interest, however, weariness, 
and necessity, produced a surer effect. The people 
showed themselves every where distrustful ; but I have 
no doubt thatif government had advanced with firmness 
and good faith in the principles laid down by the char- 
ter, it would soon have gained, if not affection, at least 
confidence, and oblivion of the prejudices with which it 
was surrounded. 

But the intoxication of a triumph so easily obtained, 
turned the heads of the royalists. The bragging of the 
emigrants knew no bounds. When they saw the Bour- 
bons seated on the throne, they imagined themselves 
masters of their sovereign and all France. They asked, 
or rather demanded, employments, favours, and money. 
All was lavished on them. Most of them were old offi- 
cers, who, at the time of their emigration, enjoyed but 
an inferior rank in the army. Five-and-twenty years' 
service was reckoned for them. Senior lieutenants be- 
came colonels, and colonels majors or lieutenant-gene- 
rals. The pretensions of these old men to glory, — their 
warlike disposition, now so out of season, cast on them 
a ridicule that was eagerly seized by the numerous idle 
young officers, whom peace had brought together in the 
metropolis, and they became the subjects of biting 
pleasantry and bitter irony. Songs and caricatures 
were directed against these people, and contributed to 
bring them into disrepute. 

An unimportant circumstance gave government an 
idea of the exasperation that began to spread among the 
people. An actress of the Theatre Frangaise died, about 
that time, in the Chaussee d'Antin. Her funeral was 
accompanied by most of the theatrical characters in the 
metropolis. As she had enjoyed a good deal of celebrity, 
the procession was soon augmented by a great number 
of those persons who had applauded her talent. When 
they arrived in front of the church of St. Roch, they 
found the doors shut by order of the vicar, according to 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 131 

the ancient custom, by which, in France, actors were 
considered as excommunicated. The friends of the 
deceased were unable to soften the obstinacy of the old 
priest. The mob, full of indignation, broke open the 
doors of the church, lighted the wax tapers, and began 
to sing the prayers consecrated to the dead. At last 
one of the king's chaplains came, as it was said, to fill 
the sacerdotal functions, and the ceremony concluded 
peaceably. For this unforeseen disturbance public au^ 
thority was unprepared ; and if the king had followed 
ins first impulse, which was to repel the people by his 
guards, a riot would in all probability have ensued, the 
consequences of which would have been incalculable. 

This state of the public mind in regard to govern- 
ment, — this propensity towards resistance, spread ra- 
pidly from Paris to the departments. The awkward 
position of the Imperial magistrates and other persons 
who had been kept in oflice, and who were all of a sud- 
den obliged to preach other duties, other affections, and 
contrary opinions, cast on them a sort of obloquy; and 
the necessity of making the Bourbons forget their former 
devotion to the enemy, communicated to the exercise of 
their authority a sort of violence, that wounded and ir- 
ritated every one. 

The purchasers of national property, who were ex- 
tremely numerous, ten millions of persons being sup- 
posed to be interested in those sales, were soon tormented 
by the former proprietors, who, far from accepting the 
offers that had been made to them through fear, rejected 
all manner of arrangement. They declared openly, 
that their lands would be restored to them by the king's 
authority, and that they ought to resume the possession 
of their property by the same title by which he had re- 
covered his crown ; that the loss of the subjects and the 
monarch having been the same, the restitution ought to 
be made at the same time; finally, that the charter, 
v;hich was only a temporary convention — a plain ordi- 
nance of reformation, was to be modified on that point, 
even if it were not abolished altogether. 

The king had returned with a very small number of 
nobles who remained faithful to his person ; but all the 
emigrants who had come back in 1801, at the time of 
the amnesty granted by the First Consul, hastened to 
invade the Tuileries, and added, to the joy they felt at 
the return of the Bourbons, complaints on their former 



132 MEMOIRS OF 

sufferings during their emigration. They appeared 
every day, by swarms, at the chapel of the Tuileries, 
most of them dressed in plain clothes, ornamented with 
shoulder-knots, and having by their sides the swords of 
their deceased regiments. The accounts of their an- 
cient prowess at Coblentz, and in the legion of Conde, 
appeared pitiful to those who had beaten them with so 
much facility. They seemed as if they had returned 
but the day before ; and their boastings, supported by 
the favours of the court, gave great offence to the war- 
riors who had recently fallen with so much glory. 
Finally, after a space of twenty years, the whole troop 
of Coblentz, and the banks of the Rhine, insolently tri- 
umphed in 1814, as if they had succeeded twenty years 
sooner. 

The army was still a greater cause of uneasiness. 
Though exhausted and mutilated by the last campaign, 
still a feeling for glory, and the name of the emperor, 
remained alive in the hearts of the troops. The mar- 
shals, and many of the guards, h^d yielded to necessity; 
but the greatest part of the officers remained faithful to 
these noble sentiments. Discipline and the military 
virtues were nevertheless preserved, and shone with a 
new lustre. Tlie king could not review the troops him- 
self, on account of the bad state of his health ; and the 
princes affected, every time they saw them, a degree of 
distrust and neglect, which seemed augmented by the 
jealousy they felt for their glorious deeds. 

The following circumstance has been related to me 
by Count d'Erlon. The Duke de Berri was one day re- 
viewing some regiments garrisoned in the province of 
which Marshal Duke de Treviso was governor and 
Count, d'Erlon commander. An officer came out of the 
ranks and asked the prince for the cross of St. Louis. 
'* What have you done to deserve it?" — " I have served 
thirty years in the French army." — " Thirty years* 
robbery!" replied the prince, turning his back on him. 
It is true, that the marshal having remonstrated, the 
officer obtained the next day what he had solicited; but 
the words were reported about, and I leave the reader 
to judge of the effect they had among the troops. 

The corps, dispersed on the surface of the empire, 
were soon deprived of a part of their officers, whom dis- 
gust and forced resignation banished from the army. 
The staff, and that crowd of military agents now be- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 133 

come useless, returned to their homes, whither they 
carried the discontent and hatred that filled their breasts. 
The two last campaigns had been ruinous to them. They 
had almost all lost their baggages. Exasperated by the 
presence of an enemy, recently victorious, now masters 
of the country, but who had been beaten during twenty 
years, the necessity of submitting to the yoke of the 
Bourbons, whom that enemy had brought with them, 
soon grew unbearable. Without fortune or possessions, 
rejected by government, accustomed to the adventurous 
life of a camp, they saw nothing before them but misery 
and disgrace if the Bourbons remained on the throne. 
They wished at any price to alter their situation, and 
their thoughts were directed with dissatisfaction to- 
wards the island of Elba. 

So many causes of confusion were still not sufficient 
to open the eyes of the Bourbons. The three first months 
passed away in apparent tranquillity. Government 
thought nothing was easier than to subdue the dispersed 
disaffected ; and the allied sovereigns, who began to 
fear the effect which might be produced on their troops 
by the example of our easy manners, and especially our 
opinions, consented to retire, after having settled their 
accounts. France had immense sums of money to 
pay ; the terms and conditions of payment were settled, 
not without a good deal of difficulty. The allies pro- 
bably carried away with them doubts on the long con- 
tinuance of a government that began so ill ; but they 
were satisfied at seeing France weakened for a long 
while, and fallen from the high station to which glory 
and civilization had raised her. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

I observed all these seeds of confusion. I felt ^that 
the storm was not far distant, and I separated every 
day more and more from the persons who might take a 
share in it. I must here explain the singular and peril- 
ous situation in which I was placed. 

The day before the emperor left Paris for the fatal 
campaign of Russia, he kept me with him at the close 
of the evening ; and after giving me all the necessary 
orders for his journey, he said to me : " Go to the grand 
marshal ; he will give you drafts on the treasury for 
1,600,000 fr. You will convert them secretly into gold, 
which the minister of the treasury will procure you the 
12 



134 MEMOIRS OF 

means of doing ; and you will wait my orders to send it 
ine." So much gold was difficult to hide. I addressed 
myself to the keeper of the ordnance depot, (M. Reg- 
nier,) who was a very ingenious mechanic, and who 
made for me, in a very clever manner, several boxes 
which looked exactly like as many quarto volumes. 
Each of them contained 30,000 fr., and I placed them in 
my library. When the emperor came back from the 
Russian campaign, he seemed to have entirely forgotten 
the money, and he returned to Germany for the cam- 
paign of Leipsic without giving me any particular or- 
ders on the subject. The only reply he made to my 
question respecting it was, " We shall speak of that 
when I come home." At last,- when, a few months af- 
terwards, he was going to leave Paris for the campaign 
of France, I insisted on his relieving me from the 
charge of a treasure, for which I might perhaps not be 
able to answer in the midst of the important events that 
might threaten Paris. " Well then," he said, " hide it 
at your country seat." It was in vain that I remon- 
strated, observing, that the castle of La Veriiere, situ- 
ated on the road leading from Versailles to Rambouillet, 
might be plundered by stragglers of the enemy ; that 
my occupation in Paris never permitted me to remain 
long in the country, and that chance and the slightest 
imprudence might make me lose the money. He would 
listen to nothing, and I was forced to obey. My steward 
was an honest and intelligent man. He made, in my 
presence, during several nights, a hole under the floor 
of a closet on the ground floor. There we deposited the 
fifty-four volumes of Ancient and iModern History. 
Never would any work have been read with more eager- 
ness, nor appreciated nearer to its real value. The in- 
laid floor was carefully replaced, and nothing was sus- 
pected. The taking of Paris threw the emperor into 
Fontainebleau. I most ardently wished to share his 
fate, or at least to receive probably his last orders. But 
he sent me word by the Duke de Vicenza, that it would 
be dangerous if I were to come to see him ; that he 
wished me to remain in Paris, where I might act as I 
pleased ; and that he would let me know at some later 
period how 1 was to dispose of his money. 

That circumstance was one of the motives that 
made me keep so carefully at a distance from govern- 
njent. My attachment to the person of the emperor, 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 135 

the oaths of allegiance I had made to him, my grati- 
tude for his kindness and generosity, made me shud- 
der at the idea of not devoting to him the remainder of 
my life ; but, on the other hand, honour forbade me to 
embrace the party of the Bourbons, when I was placed 
in the necessity of maintaining a correspondence with 
liim. What punishment would I not have suffered 
and deserved, if the king's government, after having 
received my oath, had discovered that I had in my 
possession a part of Napoleon's fortune, and that I dis- 
posed of it according to his orders ? At the time I 
was making those painful reflections, three hundred 
Prussians occupied the castle of Vcrriere. Fifteen 
slept in the very room where the treasure was hid. 
These soldiers were far from suspecting that they 
would have had only to raise with the points of their 
swords two boards of the floor, to fall upon heaps of 
gold. They remained there nearly two months. 
During all that time, I was in continued agony. I ex- 
pected every day to learn that all had been dis- 
covered. Fortunately the Prussians went away at 
last, and I was easy, at least in that respect. 

The late Empress Josephine had however returned 
to Malmaison. After a short absence, during the 
month of April, the emperor of Russia invited her to 
return home. He added such flattering assurances, 
that she soon resumed, v;ithout uneasiness, her usual 
mode of living. At flrst few persons went to see her ; 
but the Emperor Alexander and the king of Prussia 
having visited her, a great number of foreigners ap- 
peared in their train, and were soon followed by many 
Frenchmen, who still felt gratitude and attachment 
to Josephine, and who feared no longer to express 
their feelings. The emperor of Russia went frequently, 
and paid her long visits: their conversations on Na- 
poleon were inexhaustible. The Empress Josephine's 
mind was neither extensive nor cultivated ; but she 
possessed a sound judgment, ingenuity, a thorough ac- 
quaintance with good society, and inimitable grace ; 
whilst her accent, which was rather that of a Creole, 
added a great charm to her conversation. Alexander 
appeared delighted with her. One day he presented 
his brother Constantine to her, and said, "Do you not 
think that the whole person of her majesty, and even 



136 MEMOIRS OF 

the sound of her voice, have a great resemblance to 
the Empress Catharine ?" 

Notwithstanding some indiscreet observations that 
escaped her in the freedom of those numerous conver- 
sations, Josephine never belied the tender affection she 
still felt for Napoleon. The revolution was complete, 
and the throne for ever lost, and still she never ceased 
to implore the generosity of the emperor, that he might 
soften the fate of her former husband. The promises 
he made, and which she repeated to me with sincerity, 
were speedily forgotten at Vienna, if it be true that even 
at that time Alexander consented to let Napoleon be 
taken from the Island of Elba and sent to St. Helena. 
Prince Eugene came to Paris, about the time I am 
speaking of. The Emperor Alexander took a liking 
to him, made him many professions of friendship, and 
promised to give him in Germany a principality, the 
population of which should not be less than sixty thou- 
sand inhabitants. These arrangements were afterwards 
altered : the Prince obtained the principality of Eich- 
stadt, which contains scarcely seven thousand inhabi- 
tants. The day before his departure, the Emperor 
Alexander, in a moment of effusion, said to Prince Eu- 
gene, " I do not know whether I shall not one day re- 
pent having placed the Bourbons on the throne. Believe 
me, my dear Eugene, they are not good people. We 
have seen them in Russia, and I know from experience 
what to think of them." 

In the midst of these splendid comfortings, surround- 
ed by the homage of the most powerful sovereigns of the 
continent, death overtook the Empress Josephine. She 
was subject to catarrhal colds, which a little care and 
repose usually cured in a short time. One day, as she 
felt an attack of one of these complaints, she walked 
round the Park of Malmaison with the king of Prus- 
sia. She grew in consequence worse. Three days 
afterwards she was so ill that Dr. N*** having been 
called in on consultation, gave me the painful commis- 
sion to acquaint Prince Eugene and the queen of Hol- 
land, that within a few days they would be motherless. 
The Emperor Alexander brought her, the next day, his 
own physician, and remained the whole day with her ; 
but on the Sunday she softly expired in the arms of 
the Countess d'Arberg, her lady of honour, and her 
friend. The empress was fifty-two years of age. She 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 137 

was an excellent woman in all respects : she embellished 
the throne by the most amiable qualities. Her benevo- 
lence and her kindness may serve as models to all those 
whom birth or fortune sentence to wear a crown. 

The Emperor Alexander also wished to make a pro- 
vision for the Queen of Holland. Her husband had 
left her. Alexander procured for her the title of 
Duchess of St. Leu. Louis XVIII. did not dare to 
refuse openly, but his minister Blacas made so many 
difficulties, that Alexander sent his aide-de-camp to the 
Tuileries, with an order not to leave the palace until 
the patent was delivered to him, if even he should be 
obliged to sleep there. 

The Empress Josephine was buried in the church of 
Ruel. The funeral ceremony was celebrated with great 
splendour, by special order of the emperor of Russia, 
who wished to give a last token of regard to the me- 
mory of Josephine, by sending as chief mourner, Field 
Marshal Sacken, of all his generals the one for whom 
he had the greatest esteem, and to whom he had in- 
trusted the government of Paris. 

The death of the Empress Josephine was the last 
blessing fortune conferred on her. Accustomed to all 
the enjoyment of luxury, and not knowing how to set 
bounds either to her expenses or to her charity, whilst 
the new government refused to pay the pension that 
had been granted her by the treaty of the 11th of 
April, she was on the point of feeling all that trouble 
that accompanies want of order and imprudence. The 
return of the emperor on the 20th of March would, be- 
sides, have undoubtedly compromised her. Her affec- 
tion for him, and the enthusiasm his presence would 
have created, would have led her into measures for 
which she could not have expected pardon from the 
Bourbons. She would therefore have been obliged to 
end her unfortunate days far from France and her 
friends. 

Prince Eugene was going to return to Germany. JNot 
receiving any accounts from the Island of Elba, I re- 
solved to acquaint him with my situation. He was de- 
voted to the emperor, and ho was my friend. I pro- 
posed to him to take charge of 800,000 francs, and send 
them to the Island of Elba. 

Feeling myself a little easier from the thought of hav- 
ing saved half the sum, I exerted my utmost prudence 
12* 



138 MEMOIRS OF 

to keep the eyes of the police off me. M. Pasquier 
was no longer there ; and his successor, prepossessed by 
the idea of the general excitement which was daily aug- 
mented by newspapers and pamphlets written by men 
who observed no moderation, naturally forgot a person 
like myself, whom his investigators never met with, and 
whose name was never uttered in his presence. 

What I had foreseen happened at last. The charter 
was infringed by underhand practices, and the press 
complained openly of them. The abuse with which the 
emperor was overwhelmed by the royalist papers exas- 
perated all the adherents and friends of the hero. Re- 
criminations took a violent character, and some writers 
searched the old Moniteurs, and published the odious 
imputation with which the king had formerly been 
charged at the time of the trial of the Marquis de 
Favras. 

M. Rey, a lawyer from Grenoble, described in a work 
which was eagerly read, all the infringements made on 
the charter from the day it had been granted. Two 
young men, Messrs. Comte and Dunoyer, published a 
periodical work, called Le Censeur, in which the princi- 
ples of liberty were developed with an energy and a 
strength of argument that gained universal applause. 
The writings of the royalists contained abuse on the 
revolution, and on all, without distinction, who had 
taken a share in it ; to which they added such provok- 
ing threats, that it was impossible not to perceive that 
their aim was to punish all. 

This hostile disposition had extended all over France, 
by the very measures that government took to alter or 
weaken it. Fearing, not without some reason, the 
troops assembled under the colours, they had come to a 
resolution of disbanding more than half of them. The 
sufferings of want soon took the place of the happiness 
they had enjoyed on finding themselves returned in 
peace to their homes. The fatigues, the dangers, and 
even the disasters of the last campaign were soon obli- 
terated from their memory ; and they only retained the 
enthusiasm with which the recollection of the emperor 
inspired them in their idle hours, mingled with pity for 
his fall, and indignation at the disgraceful treatment he 
suffered from enemies he had so often vanquished. The 
glory they had been promised, the military rewards that 
could not have escaped them, the illustrious title of soldiers 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 139 

of the grand army, and the universal veneration that was 
to embellish the remainder of their days, had all disap- 
peared. They returned to their homes poor and hum- 
bled, and had moreover to suffer from the mistrust of 
the agents of the new authorities, and from the con- 
tempt of that crowd of nobles, most of them old emi- 
grants,who ranked among their rights and privileges the 
pleasure of detracting from the military glory, and 
branding with the name of revolt the heroic exertions 
of the French to save their country from a foreign 
yoke. 

Most of the generals who had been retained, and even 
those who commanded military divisions, soon perceiv- 
ed, by the reception they met with at court, that the 
day was not far off when they would be set aside to 
make place for the royalists, whose long idleness was 
repaid by an accamulation of rank. 

I saw none of my old companions in arms ; but a 
conversation I had with one of my friends opened my 
eyes, and made me more attentive to what was passing 
around me. My lodgings, which were situated in the 
Faubourg St. Germain, placed me under the necessity 
of frequently crossing the garden of the Tuileries. I 
met there one day a former aide-de-camp of the empe- 
ror. We talked about public affairs, and he said to me : 
" I have just met Marshal Ney ; I have never yet seen 
a man more exasperated than he against government. 
His lady was yesterday so cruelly insulted at the Tuile- 
ries, that she went home in tears. The old duchesses taxed 
her with being the daughter of a chambermaid.* Her 
aunt, Madame Campan, has just lost the situation of 
superintending lady of the establishment at Ecouen, 
notwithstanding the marshal's solicitations. The harsh 
and insolent manner of Count de Blacas, to whom the 
king referred him, added to his exasperation." 

This account appeared so singular to me, from the 
disposition in which I supposed the marshal to be, that 

* The lady of Marshal Ney was a daughter of Madame Augnie, 
chambermaid to the queen. Her unfortunate mother, who was 
persecuted in 1793 by the revolutionary committees, threw herself 
into a well, to escape from the scaftbld, and to avoid by a volun- 
tary death the confiscation of her property. She had three daugh- 
ters, all of them remarkable for their beauty and the most amiable 
qualities: Madame Gamot, (afterwards Madame Delaville,) the 
lady of Marshal Ney, and Madame de Broc, who met with her 
death by falling into a torrent near Aix in Savoy. (JVoite of the 
Author.) 



140 MEMOIRS OF 

I could not help expressing some idea that it might be 
exaggerated. " If you think me mistaken," returned 
the aide-de-camp, " let us continue our walk. He will 
soon pass through here again to return home, for I 
know he is gone to the Rue da Mont Blanc, and you 
may hear him yourself." 

In fact, the marshal appeared in about an hour. We 
stood at the entrance of the terrace, by the water-side. 
When he saw me, he immediately came up to me, and 
we walked all three together. " Well," said he, " so 
you have kept yourself aloof; you are at peace, far from 
this puddle. How happy you are, that have no insult 
or injustice to suffer ! These people are so ignorant, 
they know not what a Marshal Ney is. Shall I be 
obliged to teach it them ?" 

He continued there for half an hour, to vent his pas- 
sion ; and, notwithstanding some reflections we made 
with a view to calm him, he left us abruptly. This fact 
will undoubtedly appear a considerable charge against 
him ; and many persons will be tempted to connect that 
speech with his conduct in the month of March follow- 
ing. This would however be a mistake. The marshal 
was a man who always acted upon the first impulse : 
he did not love the new government ; but (it must, alas ! 
be acknowledged) he loved the emperor still less. A few 
days after the conversation I mentioned, he went to his 
seat at Coudreaux, and remained a complete stranger 
to all that follows. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The youngest and most ambitious among the general 
officers were naturally the most discontented. Stopped 
all of a sudden in the midst of their career, forced to 
mix again with the crowd, fortune and honours escaped 
from their hands, when they seemed to have only one 
step more to take to gain them. Accustomed to a 
showy life, their large salaries were suddenly cut off, 
and they experienced great disappointment in not being 
able to keep up the brilliant rank that had been assign- 
ed to them in the army and in the world, the enjoyment 
of which would perhaps have comforted them. I do 
not say that their love of their country and their devo- 
tion to the emperor had not a great share in their resent- 
ment ; and all those causes added together, made their 
situation insufferable. The universal contempt for the 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 143 

new government, and the clamour that was raised on 
all sides, persuaded them that the favourable moment 
for an insurrection had arrived ; and some of them did 
not hesitate to employ for that end the troops with 
which government had intrusted them for its defence, in 
full reliance on the oath of allegiance they had taken. I 
had not the least knowledge of the plot. It was M. de 

P who first spoke to me about it, and who, with 

the confidence and levity of youth, acquainted me with 
all its particulars. He did not even seek to hide the 
names of any of its leaders. By all I had heard, I soon 
discovered tliat every body knew the secret except go- 
vernment. It was Marshal Soult who held the portfolio 
of the war department ; but having at that time no 
other wish than to efface by his new zeal the remem- 
brance of his old aifection for the republic and the em- 
peror, he consecrated all his time to the Vendeans and 
their history, making the king sign an ordinance for the 
monument at Quiberon, and placing them in the army. 
Far from enlightening the sovereign on the spirit of the 
army and the people, he knew so little about it himself, 
that he thought it quite natural to assemble with great 
eclat, in the city of Nantes, all the remains of the old 
rebels of the Vendee, for a solemn distribution of pen- 
sions and orders. The Nantese, at the sight of their 
old foes, who had so frequently shown marks of cruelty, 
were at the point of insurrection. The agent of the 
minister was obliged to run away, leaving behind him 
an incensed population, ready to take up arms to repel 
this counter-revolutionary attempt. 

This awkward act was soon after followed by an un- 
just and brutal measure, which augmented the exaspe- 
ration of the military. General Excelmans, one ©f the 
most brilliant leaders of the army, had been first aide- 
de-camp to the king of Naples. One of the physicians 
of that prince setting off to join him, Excelmans gave 
him a letter, wherein he feelingly expressed his attach- 
ment to his former general. Some loose words on the 
energy of the army, which still subsisted notwithstand- 
ing the peace, and offers of service, concluded his let- 
ter. The person who had taken charge of it was ar- 
rested; the letter was then delivered to the minister of 
war, (then General Dupont,) who reprimanded General 
Excelmans for the very slight impropriety he had com- 
mitted. But the letter remained in the office of the 



142 ME3I0IRS OP 

minister. One of the first measures of Marshal Soult, 
when he took the portfolio, was to decide that General 
Excelmans should leave Paris, and go and reside, until 
farther orders, in the department where he was born. 
The general resisted, alleging, with reason, that his 
natural home was in the metropolis, having no property 
in the department, where he had not even been for the 
last twenty years. Finally, he only solicited a respite. Ma- 
dame Excelmans had been for three days in the pains 
of child-birth. All the friends of her husband surround- 
ed him, and encouraged him to resist an order which 
had all the appearance of a lettre de cachet. The minis- 
ter was going to use violence, when one of the general's 
companions in arms. General Flahaut, helped him to 
escape. A court martial assembled at Lille to try him: 
he went there and was acquitted. Tiiis acquittal was 
a fresh triumph to the friends of the emperor, and a 
powerful encouragement to those who were at the head 
of the plot. 

One of the leaders was General Lal!eraant,whom I had 
known in Italy and in Egypt, when he was an officer of 
the guards, and afterwards aide-de-camp of General Ju- 
not. He wished me to take an active part in the con- 
spiracy, and especially to undertake the commission of 
acquainting the emperor with it. He observed that I 
had undoubtedly kept secure means of corresponding 
with him. He opened to me his plans, which were to 
seize the persons of the Bourbons, proclaim the emperor, 
and replace him on the throne. Marshal Davoust, the 
Dukes of Otranto and Bassano, and several others, whose 
names I forget, were (he heads of the enierpiise. The 
more he advanced in his explanation, the more my alarm 
and uneasiness deprived me of all power of replying. 
In listening to him, it was not, I acknowledge, the fate 
of the king that caused my anxiety, but that of the empe- 
ror. I however answered, " The persons whom you 
have named are very able, and their co-operation un- 
doubtedly makes your success very probable; but still, it 
seems to me, you dispose very freely of the emperor, 
simply to acquaint him with an undertaking, in regard to 
which he has not been previously consulted : to dispose 
of his fate without his permission appears to me a very 
bold act. First, I positively declare, I have no sure means 
of sending him a letter, I even intreat his friends not to 
address him any, as I am sure they will be stopped by 
the posts of France or Italy, and sent to Vienna, where 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 143 

M. de Talleyrand strongly solicits a more distant exile 
for the emperor. The motives on which he gronnds his 
demand have not as yet appeared sufficient to determine 
the allied powers to such a uieasure ; but I leave you to 
judge whai effect would be produced upon them by a 
correspondence such as you wish to undertake. I am 
convinced the emperor would be sent to the world's 
end, and perhaps even murdered. Who knows whether 
he may not have plans of his own, which yours may 
counteract and destroy ? Do you think his mind is 
weakened ? Has he no friends left in Italy? Can he 
not easily be informed of what happens here ? J'inally, 
has he left his orders with any body ? Has he sent any 
over since he has been in the island of Elba ?" — " As 
you think it dangerous to write," replied the general, 
" we shall strive to send him somebody of great trust. 
As for our plan, it is too far advanced for us to delay the 
execution of it any longer. If we put it off till some 
other time, the emperor will be one day unexpectedly re- 
moved from the island of Elba, in spite of the brave men 
who guard him, and then all will be lost beyond resource. 
For the rest, speak to the Duke de Bassano ; communi- 
cate to him your anxiety ; but be sure we will not. 
This government is not to be borne ; we will break it 
with our swords; our resolution is taken." 

1 went the day after to the Duke de Bassano, whom I 
had not seen since the restoration. After having related 
the conversation I had had with Lalletnant, [ expressed 
my fears, not only in regard to a correspondence with the 
island of Elba, but also to the strange trust they reposed 
in the Duke of Otranto. Murat spoke openly to me — 
" This is quite a military operation," he said; " we have 
nothing to say in it: all that concerns us is the return of 
the emperor. 1 know not how to acquaint him of it, if 
you have no means, and if you think them all dangerous. 
I am, moreover, as much convinced as you are that it 
would be his certain ruin to commit even a single word 
to paper; and, in fact, I gave no letter to M. Fleury de 
Chaboulon, who, you know, set off more than a fort- 
night ago. To be sure, when he left us, the military 
conspiracy was not yet hatched; or, at least, I had no 
knowledge of it. As to the Duke of Otranto, I do not 
share your mistrust: he has entered on the business with 
so much ardour, and he is on such bad terms with the 
Bourbons, that I am sure he will not betray us." — "Very 
well; but suppose he be sincere in this, who knows 
whether he has not some after thought, and whether he 



146 MEMOIRS OF 

does not intend to work for another?" — " I do not know 
for whom it should be : he can have no thoughts on the 
Duke of Orleans. Of that 1 have indisputable proofs. 
Neither he nor any other would dare to touch that ques- 
tion with the prince. Con>e and see me often, and I shall 
make you acquainted with every thing." 

My conversation with the Duke de Bassano had aug- 
mented my fears for the emperor. The name of the 
Duke of Otranto appeared fatal to me, and I returned a 
iew days afterwards to the duke's house, to speak again 
with him on the subject. He was closeted with the 
Prince of Eckmuhl; but I found Count Thibaudeau, who 
was very well informed of the whole business, and knew 
the plot in its most minute particulars. I communicated 
to him my anxiety concerning Fouche. His answer was 
— " It is not yet very clear in my eyes that he really 
wishes for the return of the emperor, but he will remain 
faithful to us on the occasion." 

While we were talking together, the Prince of Eck- 
muhl came out of the duke's cabinet, and the latter tak- 
ing us aside, acquainted us that the prince had just de- 
clared he gave up all co-operation in the undertaking. 
The reason he gave was, the levity of the leaders, and 
the certainty that the court had already some suspicion 
on the subject. His resolution came rather late; his 
name had encouraged all the others. The means of exe- 
cution had been submitted to him, and he had approved 
of them 5 it was therefore fear that made him recede, for 
repentance could scarcely find a place in the heart of such 
a man. Finally, he stopped rather late, the motion hav- 
ing already begun, the dike being broken, and the torrent 
ready to overflow on all sides. The initiated were ex- 
pecting with great anxiety the news of the rising. Only 
three days more were wanting for us to receive it, when 
we learned that Lallemant and Lefebvre Desnouetles had 
been discovered at La Feren, through the vigilance of 
General Daboville and Colonel Lyon ; that Lallemant 
was taken with his brother, and that a court-martial was 
already convoked to try them. The cause seemed lost 
beyond resource. Anxiety and despair seized all the 
friends of the emperor. Without uneasiness with regard 
to myself, 1 sighed over the fate of so many brave men, 
who were going to expiate on the scaffold their fidelity 
for him whom they still looked upon as their sovereign, 
when suddenly an extraordinary event, an absolute mira- 
cle, began to be reported about, secretly at first, but soon 
with undoubted certainty. It was on Monday the 7th of 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 145 

March. I was crossing the Tuileries at nine o'clock in 
the morning, when I perceived on the steps of the gate 
leading to the Rue de Rivoli, M. Paul Lagnrde, late com- 
missary^general of the police in Italy. I saluted him with 
my hand in passing by, and continued my way under 
the tree?, towards the terrace on the water-side. Hear- 
ing sonie person near me, 1 was going to turn round, 
when the following words where whispered in my ear : 
' — " Make no gestures ; show no surprise ; do not stop ; 
the emperor landed at Cannes on the first of March ; the 
Count d'Artois set off last night to oppose him." It 
would be impossible for me to express the confusion into 
which these words threw me. I could scarcely breathe 
from emotion : I continued walking like an inebriated 
man, and repeating to myself — " Is it possible ? Is it not 
a dream, or theuiost cruel mockery.'"' When I arrived 
on the terrace on the water side, I met the Duke de Vi- 
cenza, went up to him, and 1 repeated to him the news 
word for word, and in the same tone of voice in which I 
had just received it. He being of a hasty temper, and 
accustomed to view things on the worst side, exclaim- 
ed: — *' What an extravagance! How ! to land without 
troops ! He will be taken ; he will not advance two 
leagues into France ; he is a lost man. But it is impos- 
sible ! however," he added, "it is but too true that the 
Count d'Artois set off hastily last night." 

The ill-humour of the Duke de Vicenza and his fatal 
forebodings were irksome to me. I left him, to indulge 
at liberty the joy I experienced. At home I found no 
one who would share it. Madame Lavallette was dis- 
mayed at the news, and drew sad omens from it. I ran 
to the Duchess of St. Leu, and found her bathed in tears 
of joy and emotion. After the lapse of a few moments, 
we began to calculate the immense distance between 
Cannes and Paris. " What will the generals do that 
command on that road.? What the public authorities ? 
What the troops? What effect will the arrival of the 
Count d'Artois produce ?" It appeared to us as if noth- 
ing could resist the emperor ; and we concluded that, 
when once he should arrive at Lyons, all opposition 
would become impossible. From that moment the 
duchess closed her door. All the suspicions of the 
royalists, all the eyes of the police, centered upon her. 
During the eleven months that had elapsed, her house 
had not been much frequented. Some generals, a few 
ladies and young men of the new court, visited her of- 
ten ; but the conversation never turned upon the em- 
13 



146 MEMOIKS OP 

peror. A small number of faithful friends alone now and 
then inquired what was his manner of living, — what 
would be his future situation. 

An undefined feeling convinced us that he would re- 
turn ; that a life of miracles would not be terminated on a 
rock between Italy and France; but how, and by what 
means, was that to happen, our imagination, active as it 
was, could not conceive. Every day we counted the 
errors government committed, those they were supposed 
to commit, and the mass of prepossessions, complaints, 
violent or satirical writings, in which the ridicule of the 
royahsts and the absurdity of their plans were exposed to 
light with so much bitter irony. But, notwithstanding 
all that, the people were satisfied with laughing and 
shrugging up their shoulders : the soldiers obeyed, and 
the mob appeared resolved to remain quiet. How could 
the emperor, therefore, think of showing himself to a 
government that appeared strong, and to a people that 
seemed to have forgotten him ^ And, lo ! all of a sudden 
he lands in France ; he agitates the minds of every one ; 
his formidable name spreads dismay and discouragement 
among those who command and those who detest him. 
The days, hours, and minutes were counted. Every 
morning the newspapers published the most sinister re- 
ports : he had either been taken or had fled to the 
mountains. No certain accounts were received. Our 
consternation augmented from day to day. I took long 
walks in the suburbs, and found every where the appear- 
ance of complete indifference. The labours and habits 
of the people remained the same. But the police, who 
carefully gathered the movements of the evening, in the 
cabarets and other places of resort of the lower classes, 
were struck with awe at the energetic speeches and ter- 
rible plans that were secretly circulated. They dared not 
however imprison any individual of those classes, for fear 
of causing riots, the consequence of which might have 
been frightful.* 

* I occupied at that time a part of the old Hotel de Lamoignon , 
which belonged to M. de Lamoignon's son-in-law, M. de Caumont. 
Madame de Stael lived on the ground floor of the same hotel. 
The day after the news of the emperor's landing had arrived, she 
sent to beg I would come down to her. When I entered the draw- 
ing-room she came to meet me, her arms crossed before her 
breast, and said with a faltering but still sonorous voice : " Well, 
sir, so he is come back !"— " He is not yet arrived : the journey is 
long, and I fear that many obstacles . . ."— " He will arrive : he'll 
be here in a few days, I have no delusion ! Oh ! my God ! Liberty 
is then lost for ever ! Poor France I After so many sufferings, 
notwithstanding such ardent, such unanimous wishes. . . . His des- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 147 

It must however be acknowledged, that the trades- 
people, monied men, and lawyers, did not share those 
sentiments. The position of the court inspired no inter- 
est; the jests to which it was exposed gained rapid 
applause ; but still, the too recent presence of the enemy 
caused great anxiety and a sort of stupefaction at the 
arrival of the emperor. Nevertheless, with the excep- 
tion of a few young men who enlisted at Vincenns as 
royalists, nobody appeared willing to fight. The Count 
d'Artois returned in despair, unable to place any confi- 
dence in the army. All the regiments he had met with, 

potism will prevail, and I must leave the country,— leave it un- 
doubtedly for ever ! One month more, and I should have united 
those two poor children. I should have been happy." (She 
pointed to the room into which her daughter and M. de Brogliehad 
retired.) " But, Madam, why sliould you take so desperate a 
resolution 1 You have nothing to iear from the emperor : misfor- 
tune and public opinion, which is so powerful, will have great in- 
fluence over him." "No, I will go. What can 1 do herel I 
should have too much to sufier. Alas ! when I saw these princes 
in England, they listened to truth. I depicted to them the situation 
of France, what she wished to have, what it was easy to give her. 
I thought I had coavinced them : and here, during eleven months, 
will you believe I have not been able once to speak to them 1 I 
saw them advancing tovi^ards the abyss, and my warnings have 
been rejected. I love them, I regard them, because they alone can 
give me liberty, and because they are honest men. 1 do believe 
that Bonaparto will not dare to oppress me at present: but, to live 
under his eyes! never!" Then looking full in my face, she 
added : " I do not wish to discover your secrets, nor to know 
what share you have had in this foolish expedition : but I reckon 
upon you to help me to escape from the ill-treatment and persecu- 
tion that may begin even betbre his arrival, for all this appears to 
me so well prepared." "Foi my part, you may rely on me. If I 
hear that they have any intention of using you ill, you will find 
my doors open at any hour of the day, and means of escaping 
through my garden shall be provided for you.' ' I left her, deeply 
touched with what she had said, and with her noble spirit. A few 
days afterwards she gave a rout to eight hundred persons of the 
court and the city. There was a concert and a supper. One of 
ray friends who had been there came up to me, and told me what 
lie had witnessed. The scene was animated with the greatest 
apparent freedom and gaiety. The news that tlie emperor had 
landed and was approaching Lyons seemed not to create the least 
uneasiness. If his name was pronounced, it was only to abuse 
him. Nobody seemed to doubt but that he would be obliged to fly, 
and would perhaps be taken: and still a secret feeling of fear 
disturbed the minds of every one: they seemed to feel the necessity 
of seeking forgetfulness in noisy diversions, to avoid consternation 
and terror. I saw Madame de Stael no more. She left Paris a 
few days before the 20th of March: and the emperor, to whom I 
spoke of the departure, appeared vexed at the step she had taken. 
It was even reported to me at that time that he made some pro- 
posals for her to come back. 



148 MEMOIRS OF 

all the troops he had assembled at Lyons, had refused to 
obey his orders. Marshal Maodonald, so beloved by the 
army, could not even obtain a hearing. The i^reat name 
of Napoleon had intoxicated and turned the minds of 
every one. An immense number of peasants had joined 
the army. A word, a sign, would have been sufficient to 
make them murder all the nobles and priests. Fortu- 
nately, some moderate men undertook to lead the insur- 
rection, and found means to direct it solely towards Bona- 
parte. "Do not tarnish the emperor's name!" they 
cried on all sides ; '' he will not suffer a drop of blood to 
be spilt." 

Days passed away, and each hour made the danger 
more imminent. M. D * * *, the Prefet of Police, was 
succeeded by M. Bourrienne. The friends of the em- 
peror knew what they had to fear from that man, who 
was a former schoolfellow of Napoleon, at the military 
college, and afterwards his secretary. He had been dis- 
missed for some shabby tricks, and at the restoration he 
had delivered himself up, body and soul, to the royalist 
party. The choice of this person had been undoubtedly 
fixed upon, because he was perfectly well acquainted 
with all the friends of the emperor and their habits. I 
knew that he was capable of any act, and I was particu- 
larly anxious about the Duchess of St. Leu, and her two 
children, whom it was resolved to take as hostages, in 
case the court should be obliged to fiy to foreign parts. 
She went, however, betimes, to seek a refuge with an old 
Creole woman from Martinique, who was entirely devoted 
to her. 

Not wishing to compromise any of my friends, I con- 
cealed myself in the hotel of the duchess, but in that 
part of the house kept apart for the servants. It was 
the 14th of March : I had no news from the provinces; 
but, notwithstanding the false accounts with which 
the papers were filled, I could see that the emperor 
advanced rapidly, and that it v^^as no longer possible 
to oppose any obstacle to his march. The Duke de 
Berry had just received the command of a camp near 
Paris. The officers, who had begun by immeasurable 
professions of fidelity, soon grew colder and more re- 
served. As for the soldiers, the wind itself seemed to 
waft to them the name of the emperor ; every bird they 
saw was to them the imperial eagle. The rigour of 
military discipline, exhortations, entreaties, were not 
capable of keeping them within bounds ; and during 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 149 

the three last days that preceded the arrival of the 
emperor, woe to those among the troops who would 
have dared to abuse him, or designed to attack him! 

At last, on the 20th of March, at six o'clock in the 
morning, I learned that the king and the whole court 
had left Paris during the night, and that the city was 
without magistrates or military leaders. I left my 
retreat, intending to return home ; for 1 was anxious 
about my wife, whom I had left indisposed, and whom 
I had not seen for eight days. As I came out of the 
Rue d'Artois, to cross the Boulevards, I met General 
Sebastiani in a cabriolet. He told me the news of the 
king's departure ; but he knew nothing of the emperor. 
" I have a mind," I said, " to go and inquire at the 
post-office." I seated' myself next to him. When I 
entered the audience-room that precedes the closet of 
the postmaster-general, I found a young man sitting 
before a table, and asked him whether Count Ferrand 
%vas still in the house. He answered that he was, and 
I gave my name, begging him to ask for me a few 
moments' conversation with Count Ferrand. I had- 
never seen him before, but had heard that he was 
an infirm old man, and the father of a family. I was 
surprised at his delay in setting off; and, through a 
feeling of generosity, I wished to protect his escape, 
and ensure his safety. M. de Ferrand came ; but, 
without stopping or listening to me, he opened his 
closet : I did not follow him there ; but went to another 
room, where I found the chief clerks delighted to see 
me again, and disposed to do any thing to oblige me. 
M. Ferrand, after having put up his papers, went away, 
and left his closet at my disposal. I had a great de- 
sire to fly to Fontainebleau and embrace the emperor ; 
but I wished to see my wife before I v/ent. To re- 
concile these two feelings, I resolved to write to Fon- 
tainebleau. An express was given me, who went off 
immediately. I acquainted the emperor with the de- 
parture of the king, and solicited his orders for the 
post-office, which M. Ferrand had left vacant. As 
soon as the express was gone, I went home and re- 
mained there an hour. I was far from thinking that 
the short and natural step I had taken would be 
charged upon me as a crime. I had so little desire 
to take possession of the post-office, that I went to 
13* 



150 / MEMOIRS OF 

Prince Cambac^res to consult him on what I was to 
do. I found him, according to the custom of his whole 
life, complaining of ill-health, and struggling against 
the sufferings caused by his daily medicines. I com- 
municated to him my visit to the post-office. I pointed 
to him the situation of Paris, — deprived of magistrates, 
and perhaps at the point of an explosion of the most 
dangerous character. I had forgotten to mention, 
that after the departure of Count Ferrand, my fear 
that the cash might be plundered, made me go to 
General Dessolles, the commander of the National 
Guards, and beg he would send a detachment of sol- 
diers to protect the money. The officer who com- 
manded them did not even consult me in placing the 
sentries. One of the clerks tqpk that task upon him- 
self. When the prince learned these particulars, he 
replied with his usual coolness and gravity: "You 
have undoubtedly acted very wisely : I foresee all the 
confusion that will prevail in Paris ; but I shall take 
great heed not to say a word or make a sign, by which 
the emperor may suspect that I have anticipated his 
resolutions. I have not forgotten that he reprimanded 
me on his return from the Russian campaign. I will 
tell you the circumstance for your information. You 
know, that during his absence, it was I v/ho presided 
at the council. The affair of Mallet took us by sur- 
prise. You know he was sentenced with some of his 
accomplices. They were executed. When the em- 
peror arrived at the Tuileries, he sent for me, and as 
soon as he perceived me, he came up to me with looks 
that seemed to pierce me through and through. — 
" Who allowed you," he said, trembling with anger, 
" to shed the blood of my subjects without my order.'* 
They were brave soldiers, who had a hundred times 
exposed their lives for me, and the glory of their 
country. Have you forgot that the most precious 
jewel in my crown is to pardon ? I know not what 
prevents me from punishing you severely for it." " It 
is not necessary, I think," added Prince Cambaceres, 
" for me to say any more in the matter, and you may 
easily suppose that I have not the least wish to ex- 
pose myself once more to his resentment." " As for 
me, Monseigneur," I answered, " I act for his interest, 
and have despatched to him an express. I shall un- 
doubtedly receive an answer, for which I am going to 
wait at the post-office." 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 151 

On my return there, I was really surprised to learn 
that Count Ferrand was not yet gone. The post- 
horses had been waiting with the carriage from six 
o'clock in the morning. The old man appeared quite 
beside himself, and all the exertions of his family 
were unable to persuade him to leave the place. He 
wanted to go to Ghent, and sent to me for a permit for 
post-horses. I repeatedly refused to give him one, 
declaring that I had nothing to say there ; that he was 
sole master at the post-office, and might protect him- 
self by his own signature. But M. Ferrand, prepos- 
sessed with the idea that the return of the emperor 
was owing to some great conspiracy, of which I was 
one of the heads, insisted on having some paper 
in which rwy handwriting should stand, convinced that 
that alone would protect him in his journey, and espe- 
cially in the streets of Paris. His wife said to me : 
"It is for his safety that we ask you that permit." 
At these words I hesitated no longer, and I enclosed 
the paper, of which he made no use, not having been 
once obliged to draw it out of his pocket-book, until 
he arrived at Orleans, where he remained more than 
six weeks. 

The conduct of the ministry in those last days, and 
especially that of M. Ferrand, was inexplicable. The 
king, before he went away, had issued a proclamation, 
wherein he exhorted the Parisians, and consequently 
all France, to submission. This proclamation was in- 
serted in the Moniteur of the 20th. Its aim was to 
make all the royalists lay down their arms, and still 
one of my crimes was stopping the departure of the 
Moniteur and other journals. But if such great im- 
portance was attached to the publication of that last 
will of the king's, why did not M. Ferrand despatch 
it the day before by expresses ? It might have travelled 
sixty leagues in twenty-four hours, in all directions, 
except on the road to Lyons, and the prefects would 
at least have known how to act. I always suspected 
that the reason why M. Ferrand did not send it off 
was because it did not please him. The man has so 
publicly acknowledged his wishes and his opinions, 
that I do not think I speak ill of him in saying that he 
wanted a civil war to break out, which the proclama- 
tion might prevent. As for the rest, I own I did wrong 



152 MEMOIRS OF 

in stopping the journals ; they could do no harm. Be- 
sides, the proclamation was stuck up in all the streets ; 
and whoever wished to read it might do so. Though 
I wish to be sparing in anecdotes, I cannot, however, 
omit one that paints admirably well the men who at 
that time had so fatal an influence over our affairs. 
The proclamation I mentioned had been digested by 
the Chancellor d'Ambray ; but the order for its insertion 
in the Moniteur had not been delivered. The editor 
of that journal went at ten o'clock in the evening to 
M. de Vitrolles, secretary of the council, to ask for the 
order. M. de Vitrolles sent him to the chancellor. 
After having repeatedly rung the bell, the porter ap- 
peared at a small window, and said that no one could 
then see his master, who was asleep. M. M * * *, 
vexed at not being able to obtain an audience, even of 
the porter, made a great noise, saying that he came 
hy order of the king, and at last they were obliged to 
let him in and walk up-stairs. There he had a fresh 
ceremony to go through before he could penetrate to 
his excellency. The valet de chambre was to be 
awakened and dressed, and afterwards the master him- 
self roused from the arms of Morpheus. At last 
M * * * found himself in the presence of the head of 
the law, whom he asked for an order of insertion in 
the Moniteur. " Oh yes, to be sure, the proclamation ! 
Have you seen it?" Then, without waiting for an 
answer, my lord took it from under his pillow, and 
began to read it slowly, complacently, and with pauses 
and inflexions of his voice, which showed all his pa- 
ternal affection for that master-piece of composition. 
" This is," said he, " one of the things I have written 
most correctly, and I fear not to say that it is one that 
will make the greatest sensation. Yes, you may 
print it." So saying, he laid himself down again on 
his pillow and closed his eyes. 

CHAPTER XVni. 
My thoughts were solely occupied with the fearful 
burthen I should have upon my shoulders in a few 
hours later, (for I was resolved not to accept of any 
other employment than that of the post-office,) and I 
found myself by degrees engaged in fulfilling the du- 
ties of postmaster-general. I was encouraged and 
seconded by the commissioners, and by all the clerks. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 153 

who were delighted at seeing the Bourbons put to 
flight, and convinced, as well as myself, that we should 
never look upon them again. Indeed, they were 
already so completely forgotten, that their reign of 
eleven months appeared to us nothing more than an 
uneasy dream of a few hours. After having arranged 
the business of the post-office in the best way I could 
for the interest of the emperor, I went to the Tuileries. 
Five or six hundred officers on half-pay were walking 
in the extensive court-yard, wishing each other joy at 
the return of Napoleon. In the apartments the two 
sisters-in-law of the emperor, the queens of Spain and 
of Holland, were waiting for him, deeply affected. 
Soon after the ladies of the household and those of the 
empress came to join them. The fleurs-de-lis had 
every where superseded the bees. However, on ex- 
amining the large carpet spread over the floor of the 
audience-chamber where they sat, one of the ladies 
perceived that a flower was loose : she took it off, and 
the bee soon re-appeared. Immediately all the ladies 
set to work, and in less than half an hour, to the great 
mirth of the company, the carpet again became im- 
perial. 

In the meanwhile time passed on : Paris was calm. 
Those persons who lived far from the Tuileries did 
not come near it ; every body remained at home. The 
departure of the king and the arrival of the emperor 
were such singular events, that the fourteen centuries 
the monarchy had existed did not in their course pre- 
sent one as extraordinary. And nevertheless indiffer- 
ence seemed to pervade the minds of all. Were these 
events above the capacity of common men ? or, rather, 
did not the good sense of the people make them feel 
that it was not for their happiness the two monarchs 
were wrestling for the throne, and that they would 
reap from it nothing but sufferings and sacrifices ? 

But it was not the same in the country. Officers who 
arrived from Fontainebleau, preceding the emperor, 
told us it was extremely difficult to advance on the 
road. Deep columns of peasants lined it on both sides, 
or rather had made themselves masters of it. Their 
enthusiasm had risen to the highest pitch. It was im- 
possible to say at what hour he would arrive. Indeed 
it was desirable that he should not be recognised ; for, 
in the midst of their delirium and confusion, the arm 



154 MEMOIRS OF 

of a murderer might have reached him. He therefore 
resolved to travel with the Duke de Vicenza in the com- 
mon cabriolet, which, at nine o'clock in the evening, 
stopped before the first entrance near the iron gate of 
the quay of the Louvre. Scarcely had he alighted, 
when the shout of " Long live the emperor !" was 
heard; a shout so loud, that it seemed capable of split- 
ting the arched roofs. It came from the officers on 
half-pay, pressed, almost stifled in the vestibule, and 
who filled the staircase up to the top. The emperor 
was dressed in his famous grey frock-coat. I went up 
to him, and the Duke de Vicenza cried to me, "For 
God's sake ! place yourself before him, that he may 
get on I" He then began to walk up stairs. I went 
before, walking backwards, at the distance of one pace, 
looking at him, deeply affected, my eyes bathed in 
tears, and repeating, in the excess of my joy : "What ! 
It is you ! It is you ! It is you, at last !" 

As for him, he walked up slowly, with his eyes half 
closed, his hands extended before him, like a blind 
man, and expressing his joy only by a smile. When 
he arrived on the landing-place of the first floor, the 
ladies wished to come to meet him; but a crowd of 
officers from the higher floor leaped before them, and 
they would have been crushed to death if they had 
shown less agility. At last the emperor succeeded in 
entering his apartments: the doors were shut, not 
without difficulty, and the crowd dispersed, satisfied 
at having seen him. 

Towards eleven o'clock in the evening, I received 
an order to go to the Tuileries; I found in the saloon 
the old ministers, and, in the midst of them, the 
emperor, talking about the affairs of government with 
as much ease as if we had gone ten years back. He 
had just come out of his bath, and had put on his un- 
dress regimentals. The subject of the conversation, 
and the manner in which it was carried on, the presence 
of the persons who had so long been employed under 
him, contributed to efface completely from my memory 
the family of the Bourbons and their reign of nearly a 
year. However, on one of the tables there stood, in 
confusion, marble busts of Louis XVI., the Dauphin, 
father of the present prince, and some of the princesses. 
These busts recalled to our memory the recollection of 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 155 

the day before. On the following day they all dis- 
appeared. 

When the emperor perceived me, he advanced a few 
steps, drew me into another chamber, or rather pushed 
me gently before him. Then pulling me by the ear, 
he said : " Ah ! are you here, Mr. Conspirator ?" — 
"No, indeed, sire; and you know, if the truth has 
been told you, that I would have nothing to do with a 
business in which M. * * * * — " — " It is well, it is 
well I" 

Fouche was already minister of the police. Our 
conversation, or rather the emperor's everlasting ques- 
tions, began. Pie concluded by offering me the min- 
istry of the home department. " No, sire ! your majesty 
will want a man accustomed to general business, and 
who ought to bear a name celebrated in the revolution. 
I entreat you to give me again the post-office, where I 
may be of service to you." " Well then," said he, " I 
shall name Carnot for the home department." 

This was a good choice. Not but that the manners 
of Carnot, which were rather dry, and his want of 
experience, gave rise to some complaints ; but he was 
a sincere man, who ardently wished the good of France. 
Two months affferwards, the emperor still congratu- 
lated himself with his choice, and said to me, " Carnot 
is a very honest man I" 

My audience had been preceded by one given to M. 
Mole, who had refused the appointment of minister of 
justice and of foreign affairs, to return to the roads and 
bridges, which had been entrusted to him before the 
last reign. These several audiences continued till 
very late. At last, at about three o'clock in the morn- 
ing, the emperor returned to the saloon, and said, 
*' Make out the patents for all these gentlemen. As 
for Lavallette, he does not want any; he has con- 
quered the post-office." There was in the tone which 
he uttered these words, something satirical, and even a 
little bitter, that made me feel he was hurt at my con- 
duct. In fact, I officiated during the three months at 
the post-office without having obtained any letters 
patent. This strange count might therefore have been 
added to my indictment, and they might have put in — 
"Accused of having, during the reign of the emperor, 
filled the situation of the postmaster-general without 
any written authorization from him." 



156 ^ MEMOIRS OF 

This was the second time Napoleon had taken pos- 
session of France. The first was on the 18th Brumaire^ 
in 1799, when he came back from Egypt. France was 
then a republic, governed by the Directory, — a machine 
worn out, as well by the powerful attacks of foreigners, 
as by its own bad administration. Detested, and 
fallen into disrepute, civil war was rising up before its 
eyes. Ptebellion triumphed over its power, and the 
people seemed only waiting for a man who might 
help them to cast off the hateful yoke. Nevertheless, 
how much solicitude, how many manoeuvres were re- 
quired to arrive at the revolution of the l8th Bru- 
maire ! On his way from Frejus to Paris, and par- 
ticularly at Lyons, all ranks of men, aristocrats, 
emigrants, citizens, peasants, all whispered in his ear — 
"Overturn the Directory; take the power into your 
hands I" But on all sides also he must have heard the 
firm voice of the republicans, who said aloud to him — 
" Take the power into your hands ! Conquer, but 
let us be free !" To succeed, he wanted the con- 
sent of Sieyes, a grave and theoretical organizer of 
republics, and of Roger Ducos, his colleague. If the 
majority of the Directory had possessed energy, they 
might have had him arrested ; and then, even if the 
sword of justice had not dared to strike him, he would 
have expiated his glory and his temerity by banish- 
ment, and perhaps transportation. 

How wide was the difference in March 1815 ! Fallen 
from the throne, erased from the list of sovereigns, 
banished to the rock of the Island of Elba, he re- 
turned almost alone; scarcely did he set his foot on the 
French shore, when the people every where rose up. 
All France repeated with enthusiasm — " Napoleon ! 
no more royalty 1 no more Bourbons ! It is Napoleon 
alone that France wishes to have ; it is his glory, his 
genius she stands in need of. Woe to those who shall 
dare to raise a finger against him 1 or rather, woe to 
those who shall not declare in his favour !" And in 
fact, peasants, soldiers, citizens, — all hastened to meet 
him ; all hailed him with their wishes and their grati" 
tude, like a good genius, like a Providence. The 
royalty of the Bourbons was no longer any thing 
more than a dream : it appeared as if royalists, nobles, 
emigrants, had never existed. It was not the conse- 
quence of a conspiracy ; it was a great national move- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 157 

ment, like that of 1789 for liberty, of the 9th Thermidor 
against tyranny, of the 18th Brumaire against incapa- 
city. At what period did man witness defections so 
abrupt, so remarkable, and in some respects so sincere? 
What were the sentiments which at that lime filled all 
hearts? Patriotism, love of glory, and an enlightened 
conviction that the newly accepted dynasty was unable 
to do any thing for the happiness and independence of 
the kingdom ; * * * * and three months afterwards, 
this second dream also vanished ! ! ! 

In the meanwhile 1 had taken again upon me the 
business of the post-office, whither I returned on the 
21st. Nothing had been wanting in the material part 
of that service, for that would have been impossible; 
but the late postmaster-general had thrown the persons 
employed into the most deplorable confusion. He had 
not only urged and favourably received the most ab- 
surd informations, but he had even rewarded them. 
In consequence, hatred and distrust had made the 
greater part of the clerks enemies to one another. 
They were all either Jacobins or noblemen. I learned, 
for the first time, that in a department I had governed 
during thirteen years, there were priests, regicides, 
knights of St. Louis, and emigrants. The latter espe- 
cially, so supple and incapable, had persecuted their 
superiors with incredible fury, in hopes to get into 
their places. I put an end to such scandalous prac- 
tices, by refusing to take any interest in them ; and 
these gentlemen were the foremost to sign the addi- 
tional act to the constitution, and take the oath of al- 
legiance to the emperor. 

Within eight days' time I was perfectly aware of the 
deep gulf that was opening beneath us. The too famous 
proclamation of the congress of Vienna had reached 
France before that of the emperor. It was impossible 
to entertain a doubt of its authenticity ; and the em- 
peror, although he did not acknowledge it, was as 
sensible as any one that the storm could not be averted. 
I had wished that, renouncing the past, he had taken 
no other title than Lord Lieutenant of the kingdom, 
governing in the name of his son. I was however 
soon convinced that such a measure would have been 
impossible. Nothing therefore remained but to ad- 
vance boldly with the imperial crown upon his head. 
14 



168 MEMOIRS OP 

Was he to maintain the constitution ? I know that 
that question was debated very warmly, and that it 
found able antagonists. In putting it aside, it was 
said, nothing remained. The great fault of Napoleon's 
reign was then paid for : — I mean, the want of ensem- 
ble, the absence of all those laws, so strongly claimed 
by the old friends of liberty, which, before, had ruined 
all, and which still poisoned our present situation. 
Wliat a deplorable idea it was, to wish to maintain 
these numerous contradictory decrees, a hundred times 
more dangerous than the ordinances of the king ! It 
was in the name of independence that he ought to 
have spoken; in the name of his son that he ought to 
have commanded. The enemy once beaten, it was 
time to think of settling the internal contest. But I 
must acknowledge that the emperor was awed by the 
energy of all that surrounded him. The eleven months 
of the king's reign had thrown us back to 1792, and 
the emperor soon perceived it ; for he no longer found 
the submission, the deep respect, and the etiquette he 
was accustomed to. He used to send for me twice or 
three times a-day, to talk with me four hours together. 
It happened sometimes that the conversation lan- 
guished. One day, after we had walked up and down 
the room two or three times in silence, tired of that 
fancy, and my business pressing me, I made my obei- 
sance and was going to retire. " How !" said he, sur- 
prised, but with a smile ; " do you thus leave me so ?" 
I should certainly not have done so a year before ; but 
I had forgotten my old pace, and I felt that it would 
be impossible to get into it again. In one of those 
conversations, the subject of which was the spirit of 
liberty that showed itself on all sides with so much 
energy, he said to me, in a tone of interrogation : 
" All this will last two or three years ?" — '^ That, your 
majesty must not believe. It will last for ever." 

He was soon convinced of the fact himself, and he 
more than once acknowledged it. I have even no doubt, 
that if he had vanquished the enemy and restored peace, 
his power would have been exposed to great danger 
among the civil broils. The allies made a great mistake 
in not letting him alone. I do not know what conces- 
sions he would have made, but I am well acquainted 
with all those the nation would have demanded, and I 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 159 

sincerely think he would have been disgusted with 
reigning, when he must have found himself a constitu- 
tional king after the manner of the patriots. Never- 
theless, he submitted admirably well to his situation, — 
at least, in appearance. At no period of his life had I 
seen him enjoy more unruffled tranquillity. Not a 
harsh word to any one ; no impatience : he listened to 
every thing, and discussed with that wonderful sagacity 
and devoted reason that were so conspicuous in him. 
He acknowledged his faults with most touching ingenu- 
ousness, or examined his own position with a penetra- 
lion to which his enemies themselves were strangers. 

The enthusiasm of the nation soon cooled. It has 
often been said that the change was caused by the ad- 
ditional acts. That measure, no doubt, contributed 
greatly to it ; but there was another reason still, which 
was, that the people felt less love for the emperor than 
hatred for the Bourbons. The latter being once re- 
pulsed, the nation was satisfied ; and when they re- 
ceived the emperor with so much warmth, the French, 
according to their custom, did not think of the morrow. 
Contented to see the royalists, who had made themselves 
the enemies of every body, humbled and restrained, they 
were soon shocked at discovering that their victory 
would cost them peace, the advantages of trade, and all 
the sacrifices that an obstinate war draws after it ; and 
nevertheless, such a revolution could not be made with- 
out running some risk, the foreign sovereigns consider- 
ing it a point of honour to main tain the house of Bourbon 
on the throne. In the meanwhile, all those who had 
already fought, nobly answered to the call of honour 
and necessity ; but as it was no longer possible to think 
of conscription, instead of 400,000 men whom govern- 
ment declared to be under arms, there were scarcely 
250,000, and with those we were forced to begin the 
war. The Bourbons had been strongly shaken in public 
opinion ; the emperor was still more so. The royalists, 
who had not shown themselves, because they had been 
taken unawares, began to feel more easy under the 
shelter of a liberty they were soon going to crush; and 
all the patriots, who must be carefully distinguished 
from the friends of the country, found themselves face 
to face, covered with the colours under which they 
fought. Old quarrels sprang up again, and the new 



160 MEMOIES OF 

camp soon presented the image of anarchy. The elec- 
tion was made in the same spirit, and the same divisions 
appeared in the chamber of representatives. The em- 
peror had thought of the Champ de Mai with a view of 
making an impression on the public mind ; but the 
electors who were sent there, were shocked at the sight 
of the throne, at the splendour of the court, and even at 
the mass that was celebrated ; for their prejudiced eyes 
saw nothing but the emperor and his arbitrary law, 
without thinking of the enemies that were assembling. 
A great many were thinking of the miracles of 1792, 
without reflecting on the difference of the periods. In 
1792 France possessed an almost inexhaustible treasure 
in her paper money. She was not embarrassed by a 
government she had recently destroyed ; nor by her in- 
terior foes, whom the people had all murdered or put to 
flight ; nor by pretensions, every body being reduced to 
the same level, now the ignorance of war appeared com- 
plete. Still, enthusiasm was raised to its highest pitch, 
and the French wished for independence at any price. 
The people were enraged, barbarous, but not corrupt ; 
the army was brave, ambitious of glory, but indifferent 
to wealth and favour. Now all was changed. The men 
who had employments wished to keep them, and were 
in consequence wavering and without resolution ; the 
army had its marshals, ashamed of the v/retched part 
they had played at the restoration, and despised by the 
soldiers, — finally, in presence of their old master, detest- 
ing the Bourbons, and fearing their return, but still 
more fearful of a new war, which they were sensible 
they could no longer wage with the former advantages, 
which had procured them so much glory and fortune. 

The emperor had resumed all his titles, and even the 
offensive form of " Napoleon, by the grace of God and 
the constitution of the empire." The council of state 
took a fancy to proclaim the sovereignty of the people. 
This declaration was not very agreeable to him, but he 
let it pass : he could no longer dictate laws. I recollect 
that the day it was signed at the council, I was not at 
the sitting. When I crossed the section of the interior, 
the secretary proposed to me to sign it. I did so with- 
out even reading it ; and meeting Regnaud de St. Jean 
de Angely, I asked him what it was. " It is," replied 
he, laughing, " an act that compromises you strongly." 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 161 

I was not much perplexed at what he said. But M * * *, 
to whom I mentioned the circumstance the next morn- 
ing, told me he had thought proper to sign it also. I 
appeared surprised that he should have done it ; but he 
told me in confidence, " The emperor has not taken it 
amiss." I then read the paper with attention, and I 
found, in fact, that it could not have been very pleasing 
to the sovereign ; so that M * * *, instead of doing an 
act of courage, made only the calculation of a courtier. 

The fatal division of opinions put in part a stop to the 
national enthusiasm, and extended its influence over all 
the details of the administration. Many prefects were 
changed. That was an indispensable measure ; but 
among some excellent choices, favour also produced 
many bad ones. Several young men, full of ardour, 
were selected, but who could not inspire much confi- 
dence. The reign of the laws was preached every where, 
whilst the commissaries extraordinary of the emperor, 
sent into the departments, every where dismissed the 
persons in employment, to put in their places either those 
who had held the situations before them, or some who 
had in former times given proofs of patriotism. These 
measures not only impeded public business, which so 
greatly required expedition, but added also greatly to 
the number of the disafi:ected. Such changes were un- 
doubtedly necessary, in as far as the chiefs were con- 
cerned, who corresponded directly with the ministers; 
but it was easy to have an eye on the subalterns, and 
their treasonable practices could not be very dangerous 
in the beginning. I struggled as long as I could against 
that fatal system, but without success. To mj remon- 
strances they always opposed the situation of affairs, 
and the success that had formerly been obtained, chiefly 
by keeping the friends of the Bourbons out of all public 
employments. But they did not sufficiently consider, 
that the greatest part of the persons employed by govern- 
ment were not traitors; but weak men, whose chief aim 
was to keep their situations, — who wished in some de- 
gree well to the emperor, prayed for his success, but 
feared above all things a defeat. I spoke to the emperor 
of the harm his emissaries did. He answered : " I want 
a victory ; I can do nothing before that. I am perhaps 
the only man in the empire who is cool ; and still I 
cannot give the impulse every where, and direct all 
14* 



162 MEMOIRS OF 

motions." He could not even repulse his enemies, so far 
was his position changed. A few days after his arrival, 
General Bourmont presented himself at his levee; he 
was in full regimentals; and although he had placed 
himself in the first rank, the emperor went by without 
stopping, and without looking at him. He was not dis- 
heartened, and came back three days successively. I 
soon learned that he had obtained the command of a 
division in the grand army. I expressed my surprise, 
and asked, with indignation, who had achieved such a 
master-piece. " I," answered Labedoy ere, turning round: 
*' I pledged myself for him. He is a good officer, who 
loves only his country. He will fight well, and serve 
faithfully." — " I wish it may be so," was all the reply I 
made ; and when I saw Labedoyere again, after he had 
returned from the campaign, I spoke to him of his pro- 
tege. " What could he do ?" he observed : " his father 
had been arrested in the Vendee." A fine excuse, in- 
deed! Could he not have solicited the emperor to set 
him at liberty, who would certainly not have refused 
him ? And besides, was that a sufficient motive to be- 
tray his country and the sovereign he had acknow- 
ledged ? 

Napoleon had undoubtedly expected that the empress 
and his son would be restored to him : he had, at least, 
published his wishes as a certainty ; and it was, in fact, 
the worst thing the emperor of Austria could have done. 
His hope was however soon destroyed. About a month 
after his arrival, the Duke de Vicenza called upon me, 
and presented to me a letter without address, which a 
courier, just arrived from Vienna, had delivered to him 
among several others, saying that it had been sent to 
him by M. de * * *, who had not dared to put the direc- 
tion on it. I was not intimate enough with M. de * * *, 
to suppose he could have written to me, so I refused to 
take the letter. Caulaincourt said : " Be not too hasty ; 
I am convinced it is for you. You would perhaps do 
well to open it ; for if you persist, I shall give it to the 
emperor." — " You may do so," I replied ; " I have no 
interests in Vienna, and I wish the emperor may read 
it." 

In the evening I was summoned to the palace. I 
found the emperor in a dimly lighted closet, warming 
himself in a corner of the fireplace, and appearing to 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 163 

suifer already from the complaint which never after- 
wards left him. " Here is a letter," he said, " which* the 
courier from Vienna says is meant for you ; read it." 
On first casting my eyes on the letter, I thought I knew 
the handwriting of * * *; but as it was long, I read it 
slowly, and came at last to the principal object. The 
writer said that we ought not to reckon upon the em- 
press, as she did not even attempt to conceal her hatred 
of the emperor, and was disposed to approve of all the 
measures that could be taken against him ; that her re- 
turn was not to be thought of, as she herself would raise 
the greatest obstacles in the way of it, in case it should 
be proposed ; finally, that it was not possible for him to 
dissemble his indignation ; that the empress, wholly en- 
amoured of * * *, did not even take pains to hide her 
ridiculous partiality for that man, who had made him- 
self master of her mind as well as of her person. The 
handwriting of the letter was disguised, yet not so much 
but that I was able to discover whose it was. I found, 
however, in the manner in which the secret was ex- 
pressed, a warmth of zeal and a picturesque style, that 
did not belong to the author of the letter. While read- 
ing it, I all of a sudden suspected it was a counterfeit, 
and intended to mislead the emperor. I communicated 
my idea to him, and the danger I perceived in this 
fraud. As I grew more and more animated, I found 
plausible reasons enough to throw the emperor himself 
into some uncertainty. '* How is it possible," I said, 
" that * * * should have been imprudent enough to write 
such things to me, who am not his friend, and who have 
had so little connection with him? How can one sup- 
pose that the empress should forget herself, in such cir- 
cumstances, so far as to manifest hatred to you, and, 
still more, to cast herself away upon a man who un- 
doubtedly still possesses some power to please, but who 
is no longer young — whose face is disfigured, and whose 
person, altogether, has nothing agreeable in it ?" — 
" But," answered the emperor, »' * * * is attached to me ; 
and though he is not your friend, the postscript suffi- 
ciently explains the motive of the confidence he places 
in you." The following words were, in fact, written at 
the bottom of the letter : " I do not think you ought to 
mention the truth to the emperor ; but make whatever 
use of it you think proper." I persisted, however, in 
maintaining that the letter was a counterfeit ; and the 



164 MEMOIKS OP 

emperor then said to me: *'Go to Caulaincourt. He 
possesses a great many others of the same handwriting. 
Let the comparison decide between your opinion and 
mine." 

I went to Caulaincourt, who said eagerly to me : " I 
am sure the letter is from***; and I have not the 
least doubt of the truth of the particulars it contains. 
The best thing the emperor can do, is to be comforted : 
there is nothing to be expected from that side." So 
sad a discovery was very painful to the emperor, for 
he was sincerely attached to the empress, and still 
hoped again to see his son, whom he loved most ten- 
derly. 

Fouche had been far from wishing the return of the 
emperor. He was long tired of obeying, and had be- 
sides undertaken another plan, which Napoleon's ar- 
rival had broken off. I shall perhaps resume this part 
of his history another time. I suppress it at present 
without any scruple, because it has nothing to do with 
mine. The emperor, however, put him again at the 
head of the police, because Savary was worn out in 
that employment, and a skilful man was wanted there. 
Fouche accepted the office, but without giving up his 
plan of deposing the emperor, to put in his place either 
his son, or a sort of a republic with a president. He 
had never ceased to correspond with Prince Metter- 
nich ; and if he is to be believed, he had tried to per- 
suade the emperor to abdicate in favour of his son. 
That was also my opinion ; but, coming from such a 
quarter, the advice was not without danger for the 
person to whom it was given. Besides, that advice 
having been rejected, it was the duty of the minister 
either to think no more of his plan, or to resign his 
office. Fouche, however, remained in the cabinet, and 
continued his correspondence. The emperor, who 
placed but little confidence in him, kept a careful eye 
upon him. One evening the emperor had a great deal 
of company at the Elysee ; he told me not to go home, 
because he wished to speak to me. When every body 
was gone, the emperor stopped with Fouche in the 
apartment next to the one I was in. The door re- 
mained half open. They walked up and down to- 
gether, talking very calmly. I was therefore greatly 
astonished when, after a quarter of an hour, I heard 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 165 

the emperor say to him gravely : " You are a traitor ! 
Why do you remain minister of police, if you wish to 
betray me ? It depends on me to have you hanged, 
and every body would rejoice at your death !" I did 
not hear Fouche's reply, but the conversation lasted 
above half an hour longer, always walking up and 
down. When Fouche went away, he bade me cheer- 
fully good-night, and said that the emperor had gone 
back to his apartments. In truth, when I went in he 
was gone ; but the day after he spoke to me of that 
conversation. " I suspected," he said, " that the wretch 
was in correspondence with Vienna. I have had a 
banker's clerk arrested on his return from that city. 
He has acknowledged that he brought a letter for 
Fouche from Metternich, and that the answer was to 
be sent at a fixed time to Bale, where a man was to 
wait for the bearer on the bridge. I sent for Fouche a 
few days ago, and kept him three hours long in my 
garden, hoping that in the course of a friendly conver- 
ation he would mention that letter to me ; but he said 
nothing. At last, yesterday evening, I myself opened 
the subject." (Here the emperor repeated to me the 
words I had heard the night before, "You are a trai- 
tor," &c.) " He acknowledged, in fact," continued the 
emperor, "that he had received such a letter; but that 
it was not signed, and that he had looked upon it as a 
mystification. He showed it to me. Now that letter 
was evidently an answer, in which the writer declared 
over again, that he would listen to nothing more con- 
cerning the emperor, but that, his person excepted, it 
would be easy to agree to all the rest." 

I expected that the emperor would conclude his nar- 
rative by expressing his anger against Fouche; but our 
conversation turned on some other subject, and he 
talked no more of him. Two days afterwards I went 
to Fouche to solicit the return to Paris of an officer of 
musketeers, who had been banished far from his family. 
I found him at breakfast, and sat down next to him. 
Facing him sat a stranger. " Do you see this man ?" 
he said to me, pointing with his spoon to the stranger : 
" he is an aristocrat, a Bourbonite, a Chouan : it is the 
Abbe M * * *, one of the editors of the Journal des 
Debats, — a sworn enemy to Napoleon, a fanatic parti» 
san of the Bourbons : — he is one of our men." 



166 MEMOIRS OF 

I looked at him. At every fresh epithet of the minis- 
ter, the abbe bowed his head on his plate with a smile 
of cheerfulness and self-complacency, and with a sort 
of leer. I never saw a more ignoble countenance. 
Fouche explained to me, on leaving the breakfast-ta- 
ble, in what manner all those valets of literature were 
men of his; and while I acknowledged to myself that 
the thing might be necessary, I scarcely knew who 
were really more despicable, — the wretches who thus 
sold themselves to the highest bidder, or the minister 
who boasted £>f having bought them, as if their acquisi- 
tion were a glorious conquest. Judging that the em- 
peror had spoken to me of the scene I described above, 
Fouche said to me: " The emperor's temper is soured 
by the resistance he finds, and he thinks it is my fault. 
He does not know that I have no power but by public 
opinion. To-morrow I might hang before my door 
twenty persons who have that opinion against them, 
though I should not be able to imprison for four~and- 
twenty hours any individual favoured by it." As I 
am never in a hurry to speak, I remained silent, but, 
reflecting on what the emperor had said concerning 
Fouche, I found the comparison of their two speeches 
remarkable. The master could have his minister hanged 
with public applause, the minister could hang — whom ? 
Perhaps the master himself, and with the same appro- 
bation. What a singular situation ! — and I believe they 
were both in the right ; so far public opinion, equitable 
in regard to Fouche, had swerved concerning the em- 
peror. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The ceremony of the Champ de Mai took place at 
last; it was on the 1st of June. Nothing could be 
more singular than that assemblage in the open air. 
It had but little success, because it had been badly an- 
nounced. The emperor wanted time : the minds of 
the people were not prepared; the influence of the 
patriots had not had sufficient opportunity to ex- 
ercise its power, or rather no one yet knew where to 
find them. Those who had begun the revolution were 
old, retired from public life, and few in number; those 
of 1793 were fallen into contempt. The Imperialists, 
or Bonapartists, were not much regarded : they had 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 167 

perpetually received and frequently misused popularity- 
There were no persons truly respectable but the mili- 
tary : though discontented and humbled, they alone 
still knew how to express themselves with dignity con- 
cerning their country and liberty. But they were no 
longer mixed with the people, having already joined 
their corps. The majority of the electors, and many 
deputies, brought with them a good spirit; but the 
French, whose imagination is so lively, never know 
how to enter into the reahty of things until their first 
fire is extinguished ; when prepossessed by a first im- 
pression, it is not till after much extravagance that 
they re-enter the patli of common sense. In the be- 
ginning they only think of advancing, without caring 
whict way. Now, the way they had taken was bad. 
At first they saw only a despot in the emperor, and 
forgot entirely the enemy : they never could feel that it 
was first of all necessary to beat their foreign foes. I 
never could bring that idea into the head of people 
who nevertheless were full of merit and long expe- 
rience. "We will have no more senatus consultum, no 
double legislative body, no arbitrary practices, — finally, 
no master. We want a moderator, and nothing else. 
We are numerous enough to beat the enemy, if he at- 
tack us. If he triumph, each department will become 
a Vendee. France will never hesitate between slavery 
and civil war." The imprudent men did not observe 
that by such speeches they stopped the enthusiasm "of 
the people, who preferred to live in expectation of 
what was to happen, rather than throw themselves 
into the fatigues and dangers of a struggle which ap- 
peared distant and uncertain, notwithstanding the 
evident approach of the enemy. The ceremony of the 
Champ de Mai was however a noble one; but all France 
was not there, and even there the feeling for the em- 
peror was sincere among the crowd. The magistracy 
were opposed to him. All the judges preferred Louis 
XVIII. to the emperor : the pretension ihey put 
forward of succeeding to the parliaments, of which 
they were the dross, flattered their vanity. Under a 
weak prince they enjoyed real authority, and the love 
of the Bourbons for old institutions gave them a degree 
of power they greatly hoped to augment. Under the 
emperor, on the contrary, they were found to obey. 



168 MEMOIRS OF 

All the heads and clerks in the public offices were in a 
false position : they had every thing to fear, and no- 
thing to hope; for they could not help seeing that we 
were beginning a new era of revolutions, in which all 
things would become uncertain. Finally, the impres- 
sion of the horrors that had accompanied the first in- 
vasion was far from being blotted out, and the public 
mind shuddered at the idea of a second one ! 

The speech delivered to the emperor by M. Dubois 
d'Angers was full of energy. It contained a summary 
of all the wishes, and expressed clearly the national 
will. But could a power that had nothing left, give all 
that was expected? The answer of the emperor, which 
was not directed to that speech, was above all sincere. 
He promised a great deal; but still he was obliged to 
explain what he wished, in his turn, as the executive 
power. He displeased his auditors by that. I soon 
perceived it in talking with some deputies who had 
heard him. After the celebration of mass, to which, by 
the by, every body turned their backs, the emperor 
went down and took his place on an amphitheatre in 
the middle of the Champ de Mars, from whence he 
was to distribute the eagles to all the cohorts of the 
departments. This was a beautiful scene, for it was a 
national one. The situation besides was true. The 
emperor took care to address a word to each of the 
corps that received these colours, and that word was 
flattering and full of enthusiasm. To the departments 
of the Vosges he said : " You are my old companions." 
To those of the Rhine: ".You have been the first, the 
most courageous, and the most unfortunate in our dis- 
asters." To the departments of the Rhone : " I have 
been bred amongst you." To others: "Your bands 
were at Rivoli, at Areola, at Marengo, at Tilsit, at 
Austerlitz, at the Pyramids." These magic names 
filled with deep emotion the hearts of those old war- 
riors, the venerable wrecks of so many victories. But, 
as I have already said, all France was not present at 
that ceremony, and the enthusiasm of the spectators 
was not communicated to the people in the depart- 
ments. A few days afterwards the emperor set off. I 
left him at midnight. He sutFered a great deal from a 
pain in his breast. He stepped, however, into his 
coach with a cheerfulness that seemed to show he was 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 169 

conscious of victory. The particulars of that cam- 
paign are too well known for me to repeat them here ; 
but I saw with grief too many unworthy Frenchmen 
form wishes for his defeat. The assembly of representa- 
tives did not adopt the attitude, or speak the language 
its influence over the public mind rendered necessary. 
Old hatred, former opinions, the hope of the return of 
the Bourbons, and great anxiety in many respecting 
the conduct the emperor would pursue if he returned 
victorious, threw confusion on the labours of the as- 
sembly. It had been said to them that the first point 
was to save the country ; — but they answered : " Let 
us save liberty !" as if liberty could be saved when the 
soil was invaded I 

At last I learned the fatal news of the battle of Wa- 
terloo, and the next morning the emperor arrived. I 
flew to the Elysee to see him: he ordered me into his 
closet ; and as soon as he saw me, he came to meet me 
with a frightful epileptic laugh. " Oh ! my God !" he 
said, raising his eyes to heaven, and walking two or 
three times up and down the room. This appearance 
of despair was however very short. He soon recovered 
his coolness, and asked me what was going forward at 
the chamber of representatives. I could not attempt 
to hide that exasperation was there carried to a high 
degree, and that the majority seemed determined to 
require his abdication, and to pronounce it themselves 
if he did not send it willingly. "How is that?" he 
said. " If proper measures are not taken, the enemy 
will be before the gates in eight days. Alas !" he add- 
ed, " I have accustomed them to such great victories, 
that they know not how to bear one day's misfortune ! 
What will become of poor France ? I have done all I 
could for her." Then he heaved a deep sigh. Some- 
body asked to speak to him ; and I left him, with an 
order to come back at some later hour. I passed the 
day in seeking information among all my friends and 
acquaintances. I found in all of them either the great- 
est dejection or an extravagant joy, which they dis- 
guised by feigned alarm, and pity for myself, which I 
repulsed with great indignation. No hope could rest 
on the chamber of representatives. They all said, they 
wished for liberty ; but between two enemies who ap- 
peared ready to destroy it, they preferred the foreign- 
15 



170 MEMOIRS OF 

ers, the friends of the Bourbons, to Napoleon, who 
might still have prolonged the struggle, because they 
were silly enough to despise the former and fear the 
latter. Besides, each person took council only from 
his resentment or egotism. Some hoped to escape in 
the confusion, because they were unknown ; others 
thought they might draw advantage from circum- 
stances ; and the majority, foolishly trusting to the 
promises of the foreign powers, were still persuaded 
that the Bourbons would not return to Paris, or, at 
least, that the king, convinced of his weakness and in- 
capacity for government, would be so strongly bridled 
and fettered, that he would neither be able to revenge 
himself, nor to violate the constitution. Those who 
held the latter opinion were the friends of Fouche, 
who had given them to understand that nothing re- 
mained for them but to submit, but that he alone 
would find means to save them, and erect the edifice 
of liberty. The chamber of peers presQjited a much 
sadder spectacle. Except the intrepid Thibaudeau, 
who, till the last moment, expressed himself with ad- 
mirable energy against the reign of the Bourbons, al- 
most all the others thought of nothing else but of get- 
ting out of the scrape with the least loss they could. 
Some took no pains to hide their wish of curbing again 
under the yoke; and looked upon themselves as being 
paid in advance, either by their remaining in the cham- 
ber of peers, or the necessity of disarming revenge. 
The majority, however, wished to fall with dignity ; 
but there existed no firm will. The chamber waited 
for the resolutions of the representatives, and intrench- 
ed itself behind them, as if that shield could have saved 
it. I sued in vain to those who consented to listen to 
me : '' We have no means of escaping : you must give 
up all hopes. The other chamber has been named by 
the people with the forms consecrated by the constitu- 
tion ; we, on the contrary, are nothing but the ex-em- 
peror's friends ; we have not been forced to accept. 
Each of us, in setting our foot here, has received a 
sentence of proscription from the Bourbons. It is we 
who are the rebels : we have nothing more to do than 
to signalize our last moments by a noble energy, and 
to fall with a good grace." But I talked to men too 
old to give up the sweets of life, and who had nothing 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 171 

left in their hearts but the wish to preserve them, and 
the fear of adversity. I must however make some few 
exceptions. 

The next day I returned to the emperor. He had 
received the most positive accounts of tho««tate of feel- 
ing in the chamber of representatives. The reports 
had however been given to him witli some little re- 
serve ; for he did not seem to me convinced that the 
resolution was really formed to pronounce his abdica- 
tion, I was better instructed on the matter ; and I 
came to him, without having the least doubt in my 
mind that the only thing he could do was to descend 
once more from the throne. I communicated to him 
all the particulars I had just received myself; and I did 
not hesitate to advise him to follow the only course 
worthy of him. He listened to me with a sombre air ; 
and though he was in some measure master of himself, 
the agitation of his mind and the horrors of his position 
betrayed themselves in his face and in all his motions. 
" I know," said I, " that your majesty may still keep 
the sword drawn ; but with whom, and against whom? 
Dejection has chilled the courage of every one ; the 
army is still in the greatest confusion. Nothing is to 
be expected from Pari?, and the coup (Petat of the 18th 
Brumaire cannot be renewed." " That thought," he 
replied, stopping, " is far from my mind. I will hear 
nothing more about myself. But poor France !" At 
that moment, S * * * and C * * * entered, and having 
drawn a faithful picture of the exasperation of the de- 
puties, they persuaded him to send in his abdication. 
Some words he uttered proved to us that he would 
have considered death preferable to that step ; but still 
he took it. 

This great act being performed, he remained calm 
during the whole day, giving his advice on the position 
the army was to take, and on the manner the negotia- 
tions with the enemy were to be conducted. He in- 
sisted especially on the necessity of proclaiming his son 
emperor, not so much for the advantage of the child, 
as with a view to unite on one head all the power of 
sentiments and lafFections. Unfortunately, nobody 
would listen to him. Some men of sense and courage 
rallied round that proposition in the two chambers; 
but fear swayed the majority ; and among those who 



172 MEMOIRS OF 

remained free from it, many thought that a public de- 
claration of liberty, and the resolution to defend it at 
any price, would make the enemy and the Bourbons 
turn back. Strange delusion of weakness and want of 
experience ! It must, however, be respected, for it had 
its source in love of their country : but v>?hile we ex- 
cuse it, can it be justified? The population of the 
metropolis had resumed their usual appearance, which ^ 
was that of complete indifference, with a resolution to 
cry "Long live the king!" provided the king arrived 
well escorted ; for one must not judge of the whole 
capital by about one-thirtieth part of the inhabitants, 
who called for arms, and declared themselves warmly 
against the return of the abandoned family. 

On the 23d I returned to the Elysee. The em- 
peror had been for two hours in his bath. He himself 
turned the discourse on the retreat he ought to choose, 
and spoke of the United States. I rejected the idea 
without reflection, and with a degree of vehemence 
that surprised him. " Why not America ?" he asked. 
I answered, " Because Moreau is retired there." The 
observation was harsh, and I should never have for- 
given myself for having expressed it, if I had not al- 
tered my opinion a few days afterwards. He heard it 
without any apparent ill humour: but I have no doubt 
that it must have made an unfavourable impression on 
his mind. I insisted on his choosing England, and 
the reason I gave appeared plausible ; but after I had 
left him, I met General F * * * in the saloon, and com- 
municated our conversation to him. His answer was, 
*' You are mistaken in respect to the English govern-, 
ment. In that country, all the institutions are excel- 
lent for the nation itself; but foreigners are not ad- 
mitted to enjoy their benefits. The emperor will never 
find any thing in that country but oppression and in- 
justice. The nation will not be consulted on the treat- 
ment he will undergo ; and, believe my words, far from 
finding protection there, all possible outrages will be 
invented for revenge." 

These reflections struck me, and I begged F * * * to 
communicate them to the emperor. I could not, how- 
ever, admit them without some restriction. I could 
conceive that the English government might think it 
necessary to the safety of Europe, to prevent all con- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 173 

nection between the emperor and his numerous adhe- 
rents; but to sentence him to the slowest and most 
horrible death — to exercise on his person all manner 
of cruelty — to invent for him suiFerings unknown to 
the most cruel tyrants — (for in what other light can 
be viewed the insufferable separation from all con- 
nection with civilization and humankind; — from his 
wife and child, from whom he could not even receive 
letters to comfort him in his banishment ?) — these are 
things an honourable mind could never have expected. 
After such conduct, we may be allov/ed to suspect, 
that in England, a nation so estimable in other re- 
spects, there exists a coldness of heart, with a total ab- 
sence of humanity and generosity, from the moment 
her pride is wounded. 

The emperor went to inhabit Malmaison. He was 
accompanied thither by the Duchess de St. Leu, Ber- 
trand and his family, and the Duke de Bassano. I 
went there several times a-day ; for I could not leave 
Madame de St. Leu, who had suffered much in her 
health by the late events. The day he arrived in thai 
retreat, he proposed to me to accompany him abroad, 
'* Drouet," he eaid, " remains in France. 1 see the 
war minister wishes him not to be lost to his country, 
I dare not complain ; but it is a great loss for me. I 
never met with a better head, or a more upright heart. 
That man was formed to be a prime minister any 
where." I refused to accompany him, in the following 
words : " 1 have a daughter of thirteen years of age : 
my wife is four months advanced in pregnancy ; I can- 
not resolve to leave her. Allow me some time, and I 
will join you wherever you may be. I have remained 
faithful to your majesty in better times, and you may 
reckon upon me. Nevertheless, if my wife had not a 
claim on me, I should do better to go with you, for I 
have sad forebodings respecting my fate." 

The emperor made me no answer ; but I saw by the 
expression of his countenance that he had no better 
augury of my fate than I had. However, the enemy 
was approaching, and for the last three days he had 
solicited the provisional government to place a frigate 
at his disposal, with which he might go to America. 
It had been promised him ; he had even been pressed 
to set off; but he wanted to be the bearer of the order 
15* 



174 MEMOIRS OP 

to the captain, to convey him to the United States, and 
that order did not arrive. We all felt that the delay 
of a single hour might put his freedom in jeopardy. 
After we had talked the subject over among ourselves, 
I went to him, and strongly painted to him how dan- 
gerous it might be to prolong his stay. He observed, 
that he could not go without the order. " Depart, 
nevertheless,"" I replied ; "your presence on board the 
ship will still have a great power over Frenchmen ; 
cut the cables, promise money to the crew, and if the 
captain resist have him put on shore, and hoist your 
sails. I have not the least doubt but Fouche has sold 
you to the allies." "I believe it also; but go and 
make the last effort with the minister of marine." I 
went off immediately to M. Decres. He was in bed, 
and listened to me with an indifference that made my 
blood boil. He said to me : "I am only a minister. 
Go to Fouche ; speak to government. As for me I can 
do nothing. Good night." And so he covered him- 
self up again in his blankets. I left him ; but I could 
not succeed in speaking either to Fouche or to any of 
the others. It was two o'clock in the morning when I 
returned to Malmaison; the emperor was in bed. I 
was let into his chamber, where I gave him an account 
of the result of my mission, and renewed my en- 
treaties. He listened to me, but made no answer. 
He got up, however, and spent a part of the night in 
walking up and down. The following day was the 
last of that sad drama. The emperor had gone to bed 
again, and slept a few hours. I entered his closet at 
about twelve o'clock. *' If I had known you were 
here," he said, " I would have had you called in." He 
then gave me, on a subject that interested him per- 
sonally, some instructions which it is needless for me 
to repeat. Soon after I left him, full of anxiety re- 
specting his fate, my heart oppressed with grief, but 
still far from suspecting the extent to which both the 
rigour of fortune and the cruelty of his enemies would 
be carried. 

CHAPTER XX. 
A few days afler the departure of the emperor, I 
was told that a list of proscriptions, which was said to 
contain the names of two thousand persons, was 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 175 

making tip under the inspection of Messrs. de Talley- 
rand and Fouche, by order of the princes ; and that 
Madame the Duchess of AngoulSme vouchsafed to 
take an active part in the measure. Many persons 
had already fled from France. The intrepid Thibau- 
deau, who, a few days after the return of the king-, 
had openly protested against his reign at the chamber 
of peers, took some pains to make me comprehend the 
danger I stood in. The Duke de Bassano, at his de- 
parture, wished to persuade me to follow him quickly; 
but T, prepossessed by the idea that my conduct was 
above all reproach, rejected the cautions of friendship. 
The Princess de Vaudemont entreated me at least to 
seek some retreat for a short time. She told me that 
it was Fouche's wish that I should ; but he never 
thought of offering me the passport 1 might stand in 
need of. The situation of my wife, who was far ad- 
vanced in pregnancy and very unwell, made the idea 
of my flight impossible for me to bear. From within 
the walls of a prison, said I to myself, I may still pro- 
tect her. Prejudice will diminish, and the royal re- 
sentment will undoubtedly vent itself on those who 
are absent. The more I examined my conduct, the 
more I was convinced that my cause could only be 
brought before the correctional police, and the result 
would be no more than an imprisonment for two or 
five years, for having taken upon me the superintend- 
ence of the post-office a few hours before the emperor 
arrived. Having made up my mind to this, I was the 
more obstinate in my refusal to fly ; and I proposed to 
the Princess de Vaudemont to give her a letter ad- 
dressed to M. de Talleyrand, in which I should explain 
my conduct. She consented to lay it before him. In 
that letter I unfolded to the ministry my whole con- 
duct since the restoration ; all the steps I had taken on 
the 20th of March ; and I concluded by soliciting my 
trial. My wishes in that respect were soon complied 
with. 

On the 18th of July I was sitting at dinner with 
Madame Lavallette and M. de Meneval, when an in- 
spector of the police came to tell me that the Prefect, 
M. Deeazes, wished to speak to me. When I stepped 
into the hackney-coach, T saw that I was surrounded 
by three or four spies, who were good enough to act 



176 MEMOIRS OF 

the part of footmen, and stepped up behind the car- 
riage. In less than half an hour I was in the register- 
ing room of the prison of the Prefecture. I was intro- 
duced to the jailor, who paid little attention to me, 
being busy with distributing lodgings to several new- 
comers, among whom I discovered M. de P * * *, who 
had been long secretary to the Duke de Rovigo, and 
appeared to be the person in whom he placed the 
greatest confidence. He seemed so grieved and mor- 
tified to be where he was, that I went up to him, and 
had already begun to express my pity for his misfor- 
tune, when all of a sudden he turned aside, and, point- 
ing to me, said to the turnkey, "Conduct this gentle- 
man to No. 17 ;" after which he disappeared. This 
man, thought I, has very cleverly turned his coat; and 
I followed my guide, blushing at the mistake I had 
made. He introduced me into a dirty garret, with a 
window that opened in the roof at twelve feet from 
the floor. I was permitted, if I could, to open it by 
means of an iron bar with notches, but so heavy thai 
it was not possible for me to raise it. When one en- 
ters into prison, anger always follows the first surprise, 
I began by throwing out some energetic exclamations 
against the prefect, who had not deigned to receive me 
in his apartments, though he had sent for me to come 
and speak to him. I was not yet acquainted with the 
code of politeness of the prefects of police ; but I soon 
made great improvement in that branch of knowledge. 
As there was no bell, I was obliged to wait three hours 
before I received a visit from the turnkey, who brought 
me for dinner some disgusting prison ragout. I made 
some inquiries respecting the prisoners who lodged on 
the floor above me. I had seen through a key-hole, 
men carrying bottles, and all the preparations for a 
feast. " They seem to be very merry," I added. — 
" They are two aides-de-camp of General Labedoyere.'" 
"How ! is he then arrested ?" " I believe so." 

The next day these two officers were set at liberty; 
and I afterwards learned the following particulars. 
The unfortunate Labedoyere, after the army of the 
Loire had been disbanded, had retired to the outskirts 
of Riom, with several of his friends, among whom was 
General Flahaut, his near relation. The latter, who 
possesses a cool head, and unites prudence to much 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 177 

courage, immediately perceived the danger of their 
position. He was convinced that nothing remained 
for them to do but to pass the frontiers as quickly as 
they could. Labedoyere vv'as of the same opinion; 
but no persuasion could make him alter his plan. He 
wanted to go to the United States, but on his way to pass 
through Paris, where he wished to take leave of his 
family, and raise some money. All the exertions of 
friendship had no power over him. He stepped into 
the diligence under a false name, and found among 
his travelling companions two wretches in regimentals, 
who pretended they came from the army of the Loire, 
and who were scarcely arrived in Paris when they in- 
formed against him. These were the two prisoners 
who were merrily feasting on a part of the money 
they had received as the reward of their treachery. 

By ten o'clock in the evening the jailor came to call 
me down to the chief clerk, who was to examine me. 
In my situation, this might be looked upon as some 
amusement : I was therefore far from wishing to de- 
cline it, and I was conducted, through a labyrinth of 
passages, to a room on the ground-floor, where I 
found M. V * * *, who was dismissed a little while 
after. This inquisitor, who was a short, fat man, was 
seated in his arm-chair, where for the space of twenty- 
nine years he had been asking questions at all hours 
of the day and night, under all possible governments. 
After having taken down in writing three or four pages 
of questions and answers, he stopped, and as we had 
neither of us much inclination for sleep, he eagerly 
took advantage of some inquiries I made about his oc- 
cupations, to relate to me all the prowess of the pre- 
fects of police, the manner the prisoners made their 
defence, and the confessions he extorted from them ; 
his skill in troubling their conscience, in disconcerting 
their firmness, in surprising their tenets, in pursuing 
their confessions, and finally in sounding the bottom 
of their hearts. I cannot help recording here one of 
these anecdotes, which I thought remarkable, in the 
words he gave it me. 

" Among the conspirators of the infernal machine 
was one M. N * * *, an intimate friend of Limoelan, 
the first inventor of the plot. He had served among 
the Chouans, and the police supposed, reasonably 



178 MEMOIRS OF 

enough, that he was in Paris. After being hunted 
like a fox for several days, he slept at night in the 
charcoal-boats in ihe Pot au Bled. When the pursuit 
had ceased in that part of the town, he ventured to 
seek a retreat in a miserable garret in a public- house. 
The next day, the police came back; but he had es- 
caped, and was seen no more. His room was searched, 
and near the bed was found a scrap of half-burned 
paper, which he had used to light his pipe. This 
paper contained, however, some written lines, which 
seemed to be part of the rough draft of a letter ad- 
dressed to some general, who was supposed to be 
Georges. On the last line were the following words : 
'I cannot write any more to-day, as I have a great pain 
in my eyes.' This unfortunate man was afterwards 
implicated and taken in the conspiracy of Georges, 
and I had the pleasure of examining him. He was 
sitting where you are, his face between two wax can- 
dles, as yours is. While I was talking with him I con- 
tinued writing. He was my countryman. I spoke to 
him of his parents, of his first affections, of his school- 
fellows ; and having observed that he began to gain 
assurance, and that his answers betrayed a little more 
cheerfulness, I stopped all of a sudden, and said in the 
most natural tone I could : ' But the light annoys you : 
you may put out the candles if you choose.' ' No ; I 
have no pain in my eyes.' — * I thought you had/ — 
' No, not at present ; my eyes were bad, it is true, 
about two years ago.' We continued our conversation. 
At last I slowly read to him his examination : he was 
surprised to find I had inserted in it so trivial a circum- 
stance, and asked why 1 had done it. ' It is my cus- 
tom.' Now, will you believe that this very trivial cir- 
cumstance convicted him? The half-burned scrap 
of paper had been preserved. The writing was com- 
pared with his, and his presence in Paris, at the time 
of the infernal machine, was proved.-' 

" And what became of him ?" said I. " He was 
guillotined," answered V * * * with a most fiendish 
look and gesture. He said to me : " I am fond of my 
profession : I cannot remain one day out of this apart- 
ment. I might go to the play and divert myself with my 
friends, my wife, my children. But, no ; I must be 
here^" While listening to him, 1 observed that by 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 179 

custom he constantly leered to the left side, where the 
prisoners were placed ; and I am convinced that if they 
had been put at his right, he would have lost half his 
skill. When he read my examination to me, and be- 
fore I signed it, I asked why he had not inserted his 
anecdote in it. " Oh, your business cannot go far," he 
said : " you are not an important man for me." 

I remained a fortnight in that temporary prison 
without seeing M. Decazes, who might have been a 
little troubled at having me so near him, if he had not 
entirely forgotten our former connection. The bad air 
and the vexations of a prison gave me an inflammatory 
complaint. My physician, who was also the medical 
attendant of M. Decazes, prescribed for me with great 
care, which contributed to make them change my 
prison, and send me speedily on my trial, for fear I 
should escape from a natural death for the one they 
were preparing for me. On Sunday the 24th of July, 
I was abruptly put into a hackney-coach to be conveyed 
to the Conciergerie, at a small distance from where I 
was. There are many people in Paris wholly unac- 
quainted with the existence of the dungeons of the 
Conciergerie, which are beneath the magnificent apart- 
ments of the Palais de Justice, and which, it is report- 
ed, served in the time of St. Louis as kitchens and 
pantries for the royal household. I was introduced 
into the registering room, where I found the jailor, 
whose name was, I think, Landrajein. He was a tall 
man, disagreeably familiar, though with tolerably polite 
manners. He began to make out aloud the description 
of my person, and invited me afterwards to follow hira 
to the end of a dark passage where my new abode was 
situated. This was a long and narrow space, terminat- 
ed by a window covered with a slanting roof, that just 
enabled me to distinguish a square foot of the sky. 
Bare walls, covered with names and exclamations of 
despair, traced with charcoal, were the only ornaments 
of this dungeon. A wretched bed, an old table, one 
chair, and two tubs of foul water, were all its furniture. 
I describe it thus minutely, because it was there that 
Marshal Ney passed the three first weeks that he re- 
mained in prison. I was weaker than he, for he did 
not complain of it ; but when I saw that it would be 
impossible for me to read during half an hour, I burst 



180 MEMOIRS OP 

into reproaches, and wrote to the prefect of police, that 
disease would soon kill me if my lodging- was not 
changed. In the evening the jailor came to lead me to 
the promenade in a large yard called the Green ; and 
at nine o'clock, instead of bringing me up again to my 
dungeon, he introduced me into a room on the ground 
floor, where 1 found a fire-place, and a window looking 
into a small yard, separated from the women's yard by 
a high wall. " I could not place you here this morn- 
ing," he said, " because Labedoyere was locked up in 
the next room ; but he has been transferred to the Ab- 
baye." The next day I wished to see his chamber. It 
was still more inconvenient and more dismal than the 
one I had left. He had remained there eight days in 
the most rigorous solitary confinement, and abandoned 
in a manner by the keepers, who only visited him 
twice in twenty-four hours. The dungeon was so nar- 
row that he could not even walk about in it, though 
that was the only diversion left him, as he was depriv- 
ed of books, nev/spapers, and even of all manner of 
correspondence. 

They began, according to custom, to keep me during 
six weeks without any communication. I could re- 
ceive no letters unless they were opened, nor see a 
friend except in the presence of the registrar. The 
accounts I received from my wife were painful. Her 
tremulous handwriting, the sufferings she sought in 
vain to dissemble by repeated assurances of good 
health, her five-months' pregnancy, of which she 
never spoke, — all added to my anxiety. I soon felt 
also the inconveniences of my prison. Next to my 
room was an enormous iron door, that was opened at 
every hour of the day and the night to relieve the sen- 
try : its violent motion shook my bed and interrupted 
my sleep, while the cold and damp of the air obliged 
me to have fire night and day. 

Such torments, every instant renewed, were, how- 
ever, far from discouraging me, and I had no need to 
seek moral force in meditation, or in delusions that 
vanished every day more and more before the sad 
truth : I found it in my attachment for the emperor. I 
suffered, but it was for him : my misfortune was height- 
ened by the consideration of the cause that had given it 
birth. My name and fate were united to his immortal 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 181 

name ; and besides, were not his sufferings more than 
mine? The perfidy of the I'lnglish government was lead- 
ing him to St. Helena. How many torments were pre-' 
paring for him in his banishment at the world's end ! 
I should have blushed to complain in presence of such 
a disaster. The vengeance of kings fell heavy on us 
both, and I found at once honour and glory in sharing 
it with him. It was that thought that constantly bore 
me up, and saved me from all weakness. The idea 
that he would read my trial, and that my death would 
cause him some emotion ; that I showed myself wor- 
thy of his attachment and his trust, elevated me in 
my own eyes. I shall explain hereafter how that 
feeling of energy against misfortune received a power- 
ful support from another cause. 

A few weeks after my imprisonment, as I was one 
day walking in the yard, I saw Marshal Ney at the 
bottom of the staircase which led to my former dun- 
geon. He bowed to me as he went quickly up, accom- 
panied by the jailor and an officer of the gendarmes. 
It was thus I learned that he was arrested. Like me, 
he had scorned to leave the kingdom, and had only 
sought refuge in the country-seat of one of his wife's 
relations near Cahors. His sabre, which he had left 
in the drawing-room, betrayed him for the first time. 
He suffered himself to be taken, convinced that they 
would not dare to condemn him. After he had re- 
mained a month in that dungeon, he was at last 
placed above me in the registrar's lodging. There 
was a stove that defended him from the cold ; and his 
grated window, being higher than mine, procured him 
a less unwholesome air than what I breathed. But 
his name and his rank could not protect him from the 
hardships they seemed to take pleasure in inflicting on 
him. He played tolerably well on the flute, and during 
several days he amused himself with his instrument. 
He was however deprived of this resource, under the 
pretence that it was against the rules of the prison. 
He repeatedly played a waltz, which I long recollect- 
ed, and frequently hummed in my evening musings. I 
had never heard it anywhere else, till once again it 
struck my ear in Bavaria. It was at a bal champeire 
on the borders of Lake Starnberg. I had before my 
eyes young peasant girls merrily skipping on the fresh 
16 



182 MEMOIRS OF 

green sward. The air was sweet and melancholy, and 
when played on the flute, it immediately recalled to 
ray memory the Conciergerie, and I retired, unable 
to repress my tears, and repeating with bitter feelings 
the name of the unfortunate marshal. During the 
day we shared the right of walking in the small 
yard, without being however allowed to remain there 
together, though he was always accompanied by a 
gendarme. I was in the habit of taking my walk at 
six o'clock in the morning ; the marshal wished to 
take that hour for his walk ; I resigned it to him vvith 
great pleasure, and this arrangement lasted until his 
solitary confinement ended. From that time, his lady 
and children came every day to dine with him. She 
always accompanied him in his walks. One day she 
came near my window and said to me : " The sen- 
try that guards us is an old soldier who has served 
under the marshal ; he wishes very much to talk 
with you." The marshal in consequence came up : 
our conversation could not be long. He said to me : 
" I am easy as to what concerns myself. A great 
many friends watch over me : the government is ad- 
vancing fast towards its ruin. The foreigners al- 
ready take our part; the public indignation has 
communicated itself to them : and if you wish to 
have a proof of it, read these papers and burn them 
when you have done." He then slipped through the 
bars a file of pamphlets and some manuscript sheets. 
I found in them violent threats and even provocations, 
that appeared to me very ill-advised : there was also a 
great deal of absurd news. ' According to their ac- 
counts, the English already repented having replaced 
the house of Bourbon on the throne; and there was a 
long protest of the Empress Maria Louisa against 
the resolution of the sovereigns who kept her out of 
France. What the marshal had told me about his 
friends was more correct; but, some time after, I 
learned that he had failed in an attempt to escape 
from the Conciergerie, and that six thousand officers 
on half-pay had been forced to leave the metropolis 
by order of the minister of war. A little while after 
that conversation, we again exchanged the hours of 
our walks. He then went down in the evening, ac- 
companied by his wife, his brother-in-law, and his sis- 



COUNT LAVAtLETTE. 183 

%er4ii-law Mad. Gamot. The prisoners had retired to 
their dormitories ; among them was a soldier called 
Dieu, whose good voice and comic songs diverted the 
marshal. 

I felt a very great wish to see him again ; and one 
evening I ventured to ask permission to go up to the 
Green. The jailor was gone out : the turnkey opened 
the door and led me there, where I found Marshal Ney 
and M. Gamot. I joined them. It was about three 
months after our first conversation. At that period, all 
his delusions seemed to have vanished, " Labedoy^re," 
said he, " has crossed the fatal passage. Now it will 
be your turn, ray dear Lavallette, and mine afterwards." 
*' It is all one," I answered, " who falls first. I know 
there is no hope left." " Oh, oh ! that we shall see. 
However, all these lawyers annoy me ; they do not 
understand my situation; but I shall speak for my- 
self." 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Time passes very slowly in prison. I did not know 
v/hat to do with myself: I was discontented without 
reason with my situation, and uneasy in respect to my 
poor Emilie. Each day brought me worse and worse 
accounts of her health. I had obtained her promise 
that she would not come to see me before her accouche- 
ment : the visit might have killed her. My time, so 
ill employed in seeking to discover the future, in ex- 
hausting all conjectures, in cursing the new revolution, 
threw me into a fatal dejection. I felt the want of 
raising my spirits by the only diversion I was permit- 
ted to take, — reading. I sent for Hume's History of 
England. When I perused the narrative of all the 
royal misfortunes with which it is filled, I found my 
own more bearable, and I reaped both courage and 
comfort from it. Finally, in recurring to my own 
situation, I rested on the idea, that it was not possible 
I could be sentenced to capital punishment, and that I 
should certainly come off with a few years' imprison- 
ment. This prospect was not cheerful; but, as I en- 
tertained the hope of being confined in one of the 
prisons of Paris, I might see my family, comfort them, 
and put my affairs in order. I also frequently thought 
©f the scaffold, but only as a vague threat that could 



184 MEMOIES OF 

never be realized. I was in the abode of crime ; and 
I often figured to myself the terrors of a thief, and 
especially of a murderer, awaking in the night at the 
fancied cries of his victims, and struggling, in vain, 
under the hands of the executioner. What must not 
his sufferings be I As for me, I could at least return 
without remorse to the 20th of March. The indigna- 
tion of the sovereign, the anger of his adherents, could 
not make my heart beat more quickly. I felt myself 
strong against their vengeance, and I escaped from it 
in imagination, by following the emperor, in a solitary 
bark, on his way to St. Helena. 

I also took a fancy to know who were my new com- 
patriots in this strange country • for the Conciergerie 
is like a distant region, separated from all civilized 
nations, — a sort of colony of the New World, governed 
by brutal and despotic laws, and whose population 
consists only of the dregs of society, and where fero- 
ciousness and depravity -must be constantly watched 
and repressed. To penetrate into that region, pass- 
ports are with difficulty obtained, and many humiliat- 
ing forms must be observed. The prisoner can see 
his relations, friends, and council, only across double 
bars, which keep them at several feet distance, sur- 
rounded by turnkeys, who are the privileged spies of 
his words and most trivial gestures, and who trifle 
with the most painful feelings, by enjoining them a 
rigorous silence. 1 took great pains to obtain any in- 
formation. The turnkeys could not answer any ques- 
tions : but from my own observations, I think there 
must have been, at the time of my confinement, about 
fifty prisoners. They slept in about twenty rooms, 
containing each five or six beds, for which they paid 
ten francs a-month : this was called, being d la pislole. 
Those who did not possess the means of paying, 
passed the night in a sort of shed, on straw very seldom 
renewed. The greatest part of these wretches were 
doomed to the galleys, and most of them had com- 
mitted theft or forgery. The indifference as to the 
fate that awaited them was quite inconceivable. 

Not to deprive Madame Ijavallette of the services 
of my man-servant, I had accepted for myself those of 
a condemned prisoner, who was respited for a {"ew 
months. He had filled a responsible employment in 



CX)rNT LAVALLETTE. 185 

one of the government offices, and had embezzled the 
money that passed through his hands, for which 
crim*e he was to go for six years to the galleys. He 
was a spy over me. His honied words and affected 
officiousness inspired me with great disgust ; but, on 
the one hand, my pity for his fate, that seemed to 
frighten him, and on the other, my fear of getting, 
instead of him, one still more perverse, determined me 
to keep him. At last, however, a perfidious trick he 
played to some others became the cause of our separa- 
tion. He slept with six other prisoners, in a room 
situated in the western part of the edifice. These 
wretches took it into their heads to get out of prison, 
by digging a hole in the wall twelve feet thick, and 
so to escape on the Quai des Lunettes. My honest 
servant procured them one of those large iron bars, 
called by the prisoners, I believe, a chanceliere ; but he 
had begun by betraying them, and the jailor let them 
go on for some lime in their work. Every night they 
filled their pockets with the rubbish, and in the morn- 
ing they cleverly dispersed it in the yard. To arrive 
at the outward wall, they were obliged to take out and 
replace, every night, an enormous stone of six feet in 
length. They had been already for several months at 
work, and they only wanted one night more to regain 
their liberty, when the jailor came to pay them his 
visit, and all was easily discovered. The traitor was, 
in appearance, condemned to the same punishment 
that was inflicted on them all. But his companions 
were not to be duped by this; and the jailor told me, 
that he ran the risk of being murdered in the galleys. 
It would be even difficult to let him travel thither with 
them. The galley-slaves never pardon, among one 
another, a treachery of that sort. Ten years would 
not be sufficient to make them forget it. 

The yard of the female prisoners was, as I have 
said, facing my window, and separated from it by a 
high wall. That circumstance was a continued source 
of annoyance to me. From eight in the morning to 
seven in the evening, I was stunned by a deluge of the 
most vulgar, coarse, and depraved expressions in the 
French language. The turnkeys were frequently 
obliged to go and restore good order among those 
harpies. It was on this yard that the two windows of 
16* 



1C6 MElflOlRS OF 

the queen's* prison opened. During my confinement, 
that chamber, situated on my passage when I went to 
the Green, served as a speaking parlour for those 
privileged prisoners who were allowed to receive visits 
from their friends. It was a large room, divided in 
two by a sort of pillar that formed two arches. The 
floor was paved with bricks placed on the thick side, 
and must have been very old, as the figures they pre- 
sented are long since out of use. The entrance was at 
the bottom of a dark'passage. The queen had only 
a miserable bed, a table, and two chairs : a large piece 
of tapestry that hung across the room separated her 
from the gendarme and the jailor, who, however, left 
her during the night. How many times have I not 
walked up and down in that prison, when grief and 
lowness of spirits used to oppress rne ! There 1 found 
strength and courage : I blushed to complain of the 
fate that might be preparing for me, when I recollected 
the horrible destiny of a queen of France. I was cer- 
tainly the first person who openly expressed the wish 
that this dungeon might be converted into a chapel. 
A short time after my escape, the order was really 
given and executed. 

The jailor, with his obsequious manners, began to 
weary me ; and his everlasting questions, his long nar- 
ratives of prison adventures, became quite insufferable. 
He used to come eight or ten times a-day, and interrupt 
me while I was reading or meditating. I was impru- 
dent enough to speak in his presence of chess ; and from 
that instant I was obliged, every evening, to let myself 
be beaten during three hours by him. A circumstance 
of small importance happily delivered me of that bore. 
He had been at a former period verger of the criminal 
court, and had sold his office to a man who could not 
pay him. Having heard that I was particularly ac- 
quainted with M. Pasquier, then keeper of the seals, he 
begged me to write a few words to Madame Lavallette, 
that she might solicit for him permission to resume his 
office. She however, being rather mistrustflil, was 
convinced that under his claim might be some danger- 
ous plot agamst me ; and she sent my letter to the min- 
ister of Police, Decazes : communications of that sort 
with the prisoners are hourly prohibited ; so the jailor 

* Maiie Antoinette.. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE, 187 

was sent away, Tliis was very fortiinate for us at the; 
time of my escape. Having been born and bred in a 
prison, he was ftill of artifice, sagacity, and penetration. 
He would undoubtedly have observed my disguise, and 
all would have been lost. 

They put in his place a man from Bordelais, a pro- 
tege of M. Decazes. This man was of a harsh humour ; 
his manners were severe, and even rude ; and he was 
very enthusiastic in his political opinions. He wanted 
at first to imitate his predecessor : to come into my room 
at all times, and enter into conversation with me : but I 
took such a high tone with him, that I silenced him the 
very first day. Consequently, I only used to see him in 
the morning and in the evening, when he came to ex- 
amine whether all was right. 

I had chosen M. Tripier for my counsel, whom I did 
not know, and he had taken for his assistant M. Lacroix 
Frainville. My friends had a great desire that I might 
be forgotten, and frequently expressed a wish that I 
might fall sick. Count Alexander de la Rochefoucault, 
who came very often to see me, continually reproached 
me with my looking too well. " If you were ill," he said, 
" and obliged to keep your bed, they would be forced to put 
off your trial : time would by degrees calm passions, and 
yom* friends would do the rest for you." I was cer- 
tainly of his opinion ; but where was I to find an illness? 
I coiild not come to the resolution of breaking one of 
my legs or arms ; and one cannot have just at the time 
one wishes it an inflammation on the lungs or in the 
stomach. I was therefore under the necessity of keep- 
ing my health, and with it all the dangers of my situa- 
tion. It was at last decided that I should be examined 
by one of the judges of the royal court, and M. Dupuis 
was chosen for my reporter. I had several years before 
frequently dined with him at the house of a mutual 
friend. When I came before him, we knew each other 
again. The presence of the registrar kept me silent. 
The magistrate appeared to me to be moved by generous 
compassion ; but as the examination went on, he was 
soon convinced that he need not observe any particular 
dehcacy in regard to me. I took the advance on the re- 
quired explanation. I urged them on in all possible 
ways, and the first examination lasted five hours, though 
he wanted several times to stop it, thinking I might be 
fatigued. But I felt myself so completely innocent, I 



188 MEMOIRS OP 

laid so much importance on destroying all prepossessions, 
all superstructure of false imputations which filled the 
indictment, that I should have continued for two hours 
longer if he had wished it. The next day we had an- 
other sitting, which lasted again four hours. I have 
heard from my friend, that M. Dupuis did not conceal 
kis surprise at the importance that was attached to my 
business ; and that at the news of my being condemned, 
he expressed his indignation with a generous frankness. 
Two months elapsed, I believe, between this examina- 
tion and my trial ; but time did not alleviate the hatred 
to which I was exposed. My fi-iends were discouraged 
at the violence of the Paris drawing-room against me. 
The royalists were enraged at the recollection of their 
imworthy conduct in the month of March, and sought to 
cover their shame by the imaginary plot which they said 
had brought back the emperor ; and they appeared to 
have no doubt but that I had been at the head of the 
undertaking. According to them a very active corres- 
pondence had taken place with the Island of Elba during 
the eleven months of the first reign, and all the old 
clerks of the post-office had taken a part in it. The 
mails which went to the south of France were filled with 
letters from me. Head clerks, under-clerks, couriers, 
postmasters in the departments, — all had been in the 
secret, and had abetted in my design. To tell the truth, 
if I had been the chief contriver of such a plan, I might 
claim credit for it : its conception and execution would 
have ensured me everlasting fame ; I should have been 
the most profound of all conspirators, and I might pre- 
tend to a great part of the glory which people too fi-e- 
quently bestow on men who have made themselves fa- 
mous by great enterprises, even when their aim is con- 
trary to morals and himianity ; but nothing must go be- 
fore truth. 

In 1814, 1 had carefully avoided all connection w-ith 
the clerks of the post-office. With my ardent wish for 
seeing the emperor again, I mixed no thought of ambi- 
tion. The love cherished for him by France ; the con- 
^dction I shared with the country, that he alone could 
govern her, and place her on a solid footing in the first 
rank among the nations of the globe ; the hope, that to 
all the benefits he had already bestowed on her he would 
also add the restitution of her liberties ; and finally, a 
deep feeling of gratitude, — were the only motives of my 



COUNT LA VALLETTE. 189 

conduct. A thousand others, in my place, would have 
done as much. Millions have been led on. by the same 
impulses. On his road, at his arrival, the people pressed 
forward to meet him : the greatest in the land had rushed 
to serve him,- — as vi^ell those whom the Bourbons had 
discarded, as those whom they had retained. One lost 
battle had decided our fate ; but if victory had remained 
faithful to us, the empire, re-established on its true 
foundation, would have repulsed for a long time, and 
perhaps for ever, the family of the Bourbons, and thus 
liberty would undoubtedly have foimd her place with 
glory and peace I 

I was very much afraid that, during my confinement, 
there would be some execution. The condenmed cell 
was next to mine, at the bottom of the yard where I 
used to walk. Two persons, accused of murder, were 
tried, but acquitted : one of them was a young man who 
had served in the life-guards. He had murdered his 
mistress in cold blood, after having passed the night 
with her : the particulars of his crime were horrible. 
He first fired a pistol at her, and then discharged one at 
himself; but his own wound was slight. He was ac- 
quitted, as I have said, and they brought him back to 
the vestibule adjoining my dungeon, where he was to 
wait until the accustomed forms had been gone through 
to set him at liberty. I was not yet made acquainted 
with the verdict, when cries and sobs struck my ear. 
I thought he had been condemned, and I must confess 
that my courage was greatly shaken. It was not until 
two hours afterwards that I was told, that joy produced 
on him a violent nervous attack. Fortmiately, his fear 
of passing another night in prison gave him strength 
enough to go away. The other prisoner was a woman 
who was accused of having pushed liOT invalid sister into 
the river, where she had been drowned. This unfor- 
tunate person edified even the jailor with her good be- 
haviour ; so that he employed rigorous means to prevent 
her odious companions from extending their abuse in 
real outrages. The day she was tried, she dressed her- 
self with particular care. When she left the court she 
fainted, — but her joy was moderate ; and on leaving 
the prison, she wished to distribute among her wretched 
companions some marks of her benevolence ; but as 
the money she possessed did not make a considerable 
sum, she sent to beg ten francs of me, to add to the 



190 MEMOIRS OF 

present she made them, saying, that she would pray 
to God that I might find as equitable a jury as hers 
had been. 

When the time of my solitary confinement was over, 
some friends came to visit me. In the foremost rank 
I must place Count Alexander de la Rochefoucault, 
whose constant friendship never ceased softening my 
sufferings, and who gave me an affecting proof of it 
by accepting the charge of subroge iuteur* to my wife 
during her illness, and M. de Vandeuil, at present a 
member of the chamber of deputies. As he was 
obliged to go down to the country, and remain there 
all the autumn, he put one day into my hand two 
hundred gold louis, begging me to keep them, saying: 
" Your communications with your family may become 
difficult, and money can never do any harm. It is 
better for you to have some now in your possession, 
than to be obliged to ask for it." And indeed these 
two hundred louis were of great service to me when I 
fled to Bavaria, two months afterwards. His mother 
has been an angel of kindness to my wife : it was she 
who brought her the first consolation in her prison. 
Colonel Briqueville, who was not yet cured of two 
wounds he received at the affair of Versailles, fre- 
quently left his bed to come and talk with me for seve- 
ral hours together. I owe also many thanks to Messrs. 
Frank O'Hagarty and De Fidieres for the marks of at- 
tachment they lavished on me. But the most active 
friend of all was one of our relations, Tascher de St. 
Roses, aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene. This excel- 
lent young man, though suffering from an asthmatic 
complaint, which, from his childhood, never allowed 
him to sleep in a bed, and the attacks of which put 
him regularly twice a-month in the most imminent 
danger, used to come and pass whole days with me. 
The charms of his conversation, and the gentle cheer- 
fulness of his temper, made me forget at once ray dun- 
geon and my future fate. He continually maintained 
that I would be sentenced to banishment, and he 
pressed me to accompany him to Martinique, where 



* Minors and insane persons have, in France, besides their com- 
mon guardians, (tuteurs) a subroge tuteur, who takes up the 
minor's interests whenever they come in collision with those of 
their guardian. 



COUNT LA VALLETTE. 191 

he was born. He painted to me, with the enthusiasm 
of a colonist, its beautiful climate, its cool shades, the 
various pleasures its inhabitants enjoyed, the singu- 
larity of their manners, and the attentions I should 
meet with from a numerous family of which he was 
the favourite. He sung to me negro songs, talked the 
sweet jargon of the negro women, and thus took a 
pleasure in preparing for me, my wife and her child, a 
happy life in the new world. 

I had not seen my daughter since my confinement, 
through the fear of adding consternation to her grief 
at the sight of the horrors of my prison. Her mother, 
nevertheless, sent her to me to receive my blessing the 
day before her first communion. My daily corres- 
pondence with my family was all my love for them re- 
quired. I thought I should have been able to set 
bounds to my expansive affection for her ; but when I 
saw my only child, adorned with all the graces of 
youth, falling into my arms, bathed in tears, and after- 
wards at my feet in a deep swoon, all the anguish and 
agonies of paternal tenderness lacerated my heart. 
For the first time, I felt how great was my misfortune. 
1 could not master my grief; silent tears mixed with 
my daughter's sobs ; and when I placed my hands on 
her head, it was impossible for me to utter a single 
word. This scene made me reflect on my situation. 
I began to consider it under its real aspect ; and my 
counsel in their conferences, tore off* a part of the veil 
which till then had covered my eyes. 

The first, M. Tripier, was a man whose mind was 
cool, accurate and logical. The best way he found to 
prepare himself for my defence was to attack me on all 
points. What had I to do at the post-office ? Why 
did I go there so early in the morning ? Why did I 
send a courier to Fontainebleau ? Why did I give or- 
ders during the day ? Why that bulletin sent all over 
France by the mail ? Finally : Why did I stop the 
newspapers, and especially the Moniteur, that contained 
the king's proclamation ? He had never done with his 
questions. My answers appeared to him to be sincere 
and satisfactory ; but they did not clear me of the fault 
I had committed. He was however soon convinced that 
I had merely yielded to imprudent impatience. But 
that was not enough to acquit me ; and until the day 



192 MEMOIRS or 

before my sentence was passed, he thought I should be 
condemned to five years' imprisonment for having 
usurped the public powero 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The preliminary conferences continued tw^ice a-week 
during nearly a month. A few days before the opening 
of the debates, the Moniteur acquainted me with the ter- 
rible letter addressed to the chamber of peers, and signed 
by the Duke de Richelieu, against Marshal Ney. How 
could that man, of whom public fame proclaimed the 
frankness, the gentle manners, the impartial and inde- 
pendent character, — how could he attack before the 
chamber of peers, with such brutal and sanguinary rage, 
one of the most honorable Frenchmen of our time, one 
of our most illustrious warriors, — an unfortunate, ac- 
cused, but unjudged man, whose examination was not 
yet known, and whom the law ought to have surrounded 
with a generous compassion? When M. Delacroix 
Frainville, one of my counsel, entered my room, I 
showed him the Moniteur. Deep emotion was visible 
in his features while he read it ; and when he had done, 
he said to me with an air of consternation, after a few 
moments' reflection, " Sir, I see but too clearly what 
they want to come to : but I am old ; I wish to pass my 
last days free from political storms, and my health is too 
weak to bear the persecution that is about to spread on 
all sides. Permit me, therefore, to deposit into other 
hands the burdens I have taken upon me. My friend 
Tripier will easily find a fellow lawyer that will help 
him with your defence. I shall continue to give my ad- 
vice, but I do not feel strength enough to appear before 
the court." 

The old man appeared, in fact, so overcome, that I 
made no comment on these observations. At that in- 
stant M. Tripier entered the room ; and his colleague, 
after having put the newspaper into his hands, repeated 
his resolution, and was going to name some other lawyer 
to take his place, when M. Tripier said coolly : " I want 
nobody ; I shall defend my client alone. It is my duty, 
and no consideration shall make me turn away from it ;" 
and then our conference began. 

While I was thus debating for my life, my new-born 
child was dying in the arms of its mother. This mis- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 193 

fortune would, I feared, have most fatal consequences 
for her. I reckoned upon that child to comfort her grief 
after I should be dead. The motherly care it would re- 
quire, and which she would lavish on it with so much 
affection and tenderness, would, I expected, give still a 
zest to her life ; and it was abruptly taken away from 
her in the space of a few hours. This circumstance 
threw me into despair. The following day, when La- 
croix Frainville came in, the situation in which he found 
me made him suspect that the fear of a sentence of death 
was the cause of my trouble ; and he was going to offer 
me some commonplace comfortings, when 1 acquainted 
him with the fresh blow that had shook me. " My 
God !" he cried, pressing me in his arms ; " this is too 
much at one time. Pray, forget the momentary weakness 
I showed yesterday. I will not leave you ; — yes, I will 
defend you." And he nobly kept his word by coming 
into court, and assisting his fellow counsel during all 
the debates. 

My greatest anxiety, however, was the situation of 
Madame Lavallette. That son, the object of the wishes 
of all her life, had been snatched away from her. 1 had 
required of her not to come to the Cnnciergerie during 
her pregnancy. The dismal sight of a prison, and of 
the dungeon in which I was confined, might have had 
a fatal effect upon her. Through the same motive I 
had forbid them to bring my son to me. All that had 
been reported to me of the passionate love of the mother 
for her child made me tremble for her health. St. Roses 
only spoke to me of her tears and her grief, but tried to 
make me easy as to consequences. Now, what would be 
the result of the trial ? Five years' confinement was a 
severe punishment; but still I might see her, comfort 
her, keep in my hands the management of our mutilated 
fortune — in one word, offer her the prospect of more 
happy times to come. But if death awaited me, what 
would become of her in her misfortune ? Through some 
fatality, too common in our revolution, her family, not 
very numerous of itself, was dispersed, or had disap- 
peared. Her father was indeed returned from abroad ; 
but he had brought with him a second wife, who had 
borne him children. Although he was an excellent 
man, new ties, new affections, and the distance at which 
he lived from Paris, did not promise that he would be a 
very effectual consolation for his daughter. My only 
17 



194 MEMOIRS OF 

hope rested on Count Alexander de la Rochefoucault, 
who was related to her by marriage, and who had given 
us for the last month courageous proof of his affection. 

While my mind was thus agitated, I was informed 
that the trial would open on the 19th of November. The 
list of the jury was laid before me on the 18th. Not one 
among the thirty-six names was known to me. I had 
to choose among them twelve men, whose conscience 
might be firm, and whose minds enlightened enough to 
resist the corruption of party spirit and the threats of 
government. The list was composed of tradesmen, 
lawyers, and two members of the council of state, — all 
men, the independence of whose position, except that of 
the former, was not extremely certain. I had several 
copies made of that list, and my friends hastened to 
make inquiries concerning them, and to visit them. But 
it was Sunday, and consequently difficult to meet them. 
The notes I received the next day were so contradictory 
that I knew not whom to reject or admit. I was how- 
ever obliged to go up to court. Before I entered the 
room where the jury was assembled, they made me 
wait in the president's closet, where I found a verger of 
the criminal court. He was a young man, whose eyes, 
fixed upon me with an appearance of great interest, 
seemed to question me respecting the list I held in my 
hand. " Read the list to me," he said, with emotion ; 
" your fate lies in that paper. I can direct you better 
than any one." I did as he bade me, and at each name 
I mentioned he cried — " That one is doubtful ; this other 
shocking ; quickly erase the name." He had scarcely 
heard twelve of them when I was called to assist at the 
drawing of the jury. It was an imposing scene. Thirty- 
six persons assembled, standing in presence of the ma- 
gistrates and the prisoner: twelve were to decide his 
fate. My looks wandered over the assembly. I sought 
for good-will, or at least for impartiality, and methought 
I perceived a sort of sympathy for me. The gravity of 
their countenance, their downcast looks, the air of me- 
lancholy spread over their features, infused a degree of 
tranquillity in my mind, that augmented with each 
minute. I challenged the first names that came out of 
the urn ; because they had been so by my kind verger ; 
but I accepted the thirteenth, M. Horon de Villefosse. 
The information my friend had given me was favourable 
to him. He was an engineer, who had been employed 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 195 

by the emperor in the mines of the Hartz, in Hanover. 
I had been assured he was a learned and sensible man : 
he had been master of requests during- my time. I con- 
gratulated myself, therefore, for having him for foreman 
of my jury. To his name followed that of M. Jurien, 
now counsellor of state, and, I believe, formerly an emi- 
grant. I accepted him with a secret reluctance, and 
with a sort of foreboding that he would prove inimical. 
The sequel will show in how far I was mistaken. 

My intention is not to retrace here all the particulars 
of my trial. I cannot however pass over in silence some 
facts, which are not explained by the perusal of the 
proceedings. On the 20th of March, the two nephews of 
M. Ferrand were at the post-office. One of the two ac 
companied Madame Ferrand when she came to ask for 
a permit for post-horses. It was the first time in my 
life that I had seen this young man; and it was not he 
that came up as a witness against me. The one who 
appeared had neither his stature, his features, his eye, 
nor the tone of his voice. I did not know there were 
two brothers, and in my first astonishment on finding 
myself in the presence of an utter stranger, I made the 
observation aloud. The witness, however, positively 
affirmed that it was he who had accompanied his aunt. 
The president asked me what use I wished to make of 
so serious a charge, which might have involved the 
witness in a trial for perjury. My counsel, whom I 
consulted, was at a loss what answer he should give 
me; and in all probability I should not have succeeded 
in eliciting the truth. I nevertheless remain convinced 
that I was in the right. What could have been the mo- 
tive of that, change of individuals ? The eldest, who 
really accompanied his aunt, was a master of requests: 
could it have been repugnant to his feelings to present 
himself as a witness against me ? I have not seen either 
of these two gentlemen since that time ; and when I 
returned to France, after five years' banishment, it 
would have been impossible to throw any light on so 
strange a circumstance. 

The Advocate-general Hua was a man of very vio- 
lent opinions ; and I am not the only victim of the un- 
just severity which he showed at that time, with several 
other officers on the crown side of the court. He had 
shown himself my priva^^nemy. The violence of his 
attacks, his obstinate hatred of me, made him reject in 



196 MEMOIRS OF 

a brutal manner all that seemed to militate in my favour. 
The result of the trial was advantageous to his personal 
interests : he is at present a counsellor at the court of 
cassation. 

The first day was spent in examinations ; the second 
was devoted to the pleadings of my advocate, and of the 
king's attorney. I stood in the presence of numerous 
spectators, none of whom were my friends. However, 
the great animosity which prevailed during the first 
day, and which expressed itself more than once by 
groans, was afterwards softened. The second day ap- 
peared to me much more favourable. At last, towards 
six o'clock in the evening, the jury were going to retire, 
when the manner of putting the questions was discussed 
between the king's advocate and mine. The latter 
wanted them to be put in the following manner : — 1st, 
Is the prisoner guilty of conspiracy ? 2nd, Is he guilty 
of an usurpation of public authority ? It was clear that 
I had had no share in the conspiracy, for that charge 
had been abandoned from the beginning of the proceed- 
ings; and the jury would undoubtedly have acquitted 
me on the first question. On tlie second I should cer- 
tainly have been declared guilty. But by that means 
death was avoided. By separating the plot from the 
usurpation of authority, the jury would have saved me, 
as my crime was no longer a felony, but a misdemeanour. 
That was, however, not the object of government ; death 
was the result they demanded from the jury, and the 
following were the infamous means made use of to gain 
over the majority. It was secretly observed to the jury : 
" That after a g-reat act of justice (the condemnation of 
Marshal Ney), it is very important for the king to do a 
great act of clemency. Good policy and the interest ot 
the monarch will have it so. Give, therefore, a verdict 
against the prisoner. His life shall be spared, while 
justice will be satisfied, society avenged, and the king's 
bounty will shine in all its splendour." Thus the two 
questions were joined in one, and delivered over to the 
conscience and timidity of the jury. I was brought 
back to prison, where St. Roses, who had been in the 
court, came to keep me company. My hopes had all 
vanished, but I tried to prolong those of this excellent 
young man. After a very sad dinner, I prepared to play 
a game at chess, and I won^^jjontrary to custom, for 
he was the better player. Tli^Pbre the hours advanced, 



COUNT LAV ALLETTE. 197 

the more his courage slackened; and when at ten 
o'clock he was obliged to leave me, he burst into tears 
and could scarcely resolve to go. I remained alone 
during two whole hours ; for it was not till after mid- 
night that I was called up to hear my sentence pro- 
nounced. The verdict had been read during my ab- 
sence ; so that the gendarmes who received me at the 
top of the staircase and accompanied me to the presi- 
dent's closet, observed the most dismal silence. I sat 
down, and looking at them attentively, I read my fate 
in their faces. " Well," said I to the brigadier, " I am 
condemned. How could an aide-de-camp of Bonaparte 
expect to be acquitted ?" Without giving me any an- 
swer, he led me before the judges. A deep silence, an 
absence of all motion, prevailed in the extensive and 
dimly lighted hall. The benches were still filled with 
ladies. My eyes, wandering around me, sought in vain 
a look of compassion and kindness. One of the jury- 
men had his face covered with his handkerchief: it was 
M. Jurien. At last the president ordered the register to 
read the verdict of the jury. It was as I expected : — 
but fearing, above all things, to see the cross of the le- 
gion of honour torn from my breast, I had taken care 
to lay it by, as well as the great ribbon and other in- 
signia of the orders of the iron crown and Holland. 
The judges retired pro forma for a few minutes, and on 
their return the president repeated aloud the article of 
the criminal code by which I was sentenced to die. 
Fortunately, the ceremony of tearing off the cross of 
the legion of honour was omitted. I'his outrage could 
alone have destroyed the tranquillity of my mind. The 
minute circumstances recorded by the public papers are 
correct : I shall therefore not repeat them here. At 
half-past twelve I went down again to my dungeon. In 
the passage that leads to it I met the jailor, who ques- 
tioned me with great indifference. I answered : " All 
is over !" The man started back as if he had received a 
violent blow, and disappeared. I had restrained my 
feelings in presence of the public, but night and solitude 
recalled to my memory the fatal words, — " Pain of 
death !" The agitation of mind began to show itself by 
an effusion of violent indignation. I walked backwards 
and forwards with long strides ; I appealed to all France 
against the iniquity of my sentence. However, I grew 
17* 



198 MEMOIRS OF 

calm by degrees, and soon, in a deep sleep, I forgot my 
misfortune. 

The next day I received authentic particulars of 
what passed the day before at the discussion of the ju- 
ry. The foreman had enforced the charges with incon- 
ceivable obstinacy, and M. Jurien had confuted them 
with wonderful strength of argument. The discussion 
lasted six hours with a great deal of animosity, and 
such loud speeches that they were heard very far from 
the room where the jurymen sat. At last the foreman 
got the better, notwithstanding all the efforts of M. Ju- 
rien : eight votes against four pronounced me guiliy. 

I wished to die without appealing to the court of 
Cassation. 1 concluded that the forms had been un- 
doubtedly too well observed for me to hope that the 
verdict could be set aside. Besides, why should I lan- 
guish in agony during a fortnight, and perhaps a month? 
Why let myself be dragged to the scaffold among the 
rabble in the streets, and perhaps amidst the hootings 
of the royalists ? But then, when I thought of my wife 
and child, reason aud coolness recovered their sway, 
and this was the only fit of despair which I experienced. 

The first thing to be done was to communicate the 
dreadful news to Madame Lavallette. 1 wrote to an 
old friend, Madame de Vandeuil, and to the Princess de 
Vaudemont. They both went to her, and the mourn- 
ing they had put on acquainted her immediately with 
her misfortune. But the Princess de Vaudemont,_whose 
firm character was capable of foreseeing every thing, 
made my wife write a letter to the Duke de Duras, 
First Gentleman of the Bedchamber, to obtain an audi- 
ence of the king. It was very doubtful whether it 
would be granted. The ladies of Labedoyere andNey 
had been refused. Nevertheless, contrary to all ex- 
pectation, an hour afterwards she received permission 
to go to the palace. " The King expects Madame de 
Lavallette in his closet." Such was the answer sent to 
her. She stepped in consequence into the Princess's 
coach with my daughter, and alighted at the Tuileries 
at the apartments of the First Gentleman of the Bed- 
chamber. The Duke de Duras took her by the hand, 
and led her, amidst all the courtiers, to the king's clo- 
set. There she fell at the feet of Louis XVIII., who 
said to her : " Madame, I have received you immedi- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 199 

ately, to give you a proof of the interest I feel for you." 
These were the only words he uttered. She was rais- 
ed, and went out of the chamber. But the words of 
the king had been heard ; they circulated as Madame 
Lavallette passed ; and her grief, her beauty, her noble 
and graceful demeanour, notwithstanding the evident 
dejection under which she laboured, affected all who 
saw her. They recollected that she was the daughter 
of an emigrant, and nobody doubted but my pardon 
would be granted, the king having once admitted her 
into his presence. They were nevertheless mistaken. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The next day Madame Lavallette came to see mo 
for the first time during four months. Her pale, ema- 
ciated, and dejected countenance made me shudder. — 
Her voice was scarcely audible, and during half an 
hour I could not draw a single word out of her. She 
recovered however by degrees, and acquainted me with 
the particulars of the reception she had met with from 
the king. She came alone, but Count Carvoisin came 
to fetch her and conduct her home. Gratitude does 
not permit me to forget that worthy friend. I had 
known M. de Carvoisin eight years before at Surene, 
where we were country neighbours. He had at that 
time with him a young niece, who afterwards married 
the Count de Clermont Tonnerre. Though he had 
not yetattamed old age, he had already some of its in- 
firmities. Subject to an asthmatic complaint from the 
time of his infancy, he had left the army before the 
Revolution broke out, and lived at present the life of a 
Christian philosopher, far from the world he did not 
love. He was solely occupied with the education of 
his young ward, and with a charitable society of which 
he had urged the establishment, and which prospered 
through his benevolence. We were far from sharing 
the same opinions on several political questions ; but 
by yielding a little on both sides, the greatest harmony 
had never ceased to reign between us. I had lost sight 
of him since the Restoration ; but he returned to me in 
my misfortune, and during the last and most terrible 
month of my confinement he used to come every day 
to see me, after having assisted at a mass he ordered to 
be said every morning for my liberation. He was how- 



200 MEMOIRS OP 

ever admirably moderate in his opinions. My situa- 
tion seemed to require from him that he should offer 
me the comforts of religion. His conversation had a 
most seducing charm : he gave to his words a devout- 
ness, and an openness of heart, that touched me; but I 
was too sincere not to acknowledge that there was no 
hope of our agreeing. I explained to him, in the most 
simple manner, all that it was impossible for me to ad- 
mit, and he ceased his entreaties without showing the 
least impatience or the slightest coldness. 

Now that Madame de Lavallette is about to fill a pro- 
minent part in these Memoirs, 1 think fit to enter into 
some particulars concerning her and our marriage. 
Louise Emilie de Beauharnais was born in 1780. Her 
father, Francis, Marquis de Beauharnais, had married 
his first cousin, the daughter of the Countess Fanny de 
Beauharnais, who has acquired some celebrity in lite- 
rature, and sister to the Count de Beauharnais, who 
died a Peer of France, and whose daughter is now 
Grand-duchess of Baden. M. de Beauharnais was the 
head of his family. His brother Alexander^ who had 
married Mademoiselle Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, 
had two children, Eugene and Hortense. My father- 
in-law had only one surviving daughter. 

At the convocation of the States General, Alexander 
was elected deputy of the nobility of Blaisois. The el- 
dest brother, Francis, was named supernumerary mem- 
ber of the nobility of Paris, and only took his place in 
the Chamber after the 6th October 1789, in lieu of M. 
de Lally ToUendal, who left France at that period. 
Alexander embraced the cause of liberty, and was re- 
warded by the scaffold. Francis always voted with 
the right side, and in 1792 he rejoined the Princes at 
Coblentz. Madame de Beauharnais soon shared the 
fate of all the nobles who remained in France. She 
was put in prison, where she stayed more than two 
years. Young Emilie was entrusted to the care of a 
governess, or rather abandoned to the vulger caprice of 
some domestics who shared the movements and pas- 
sions of the mob, Born of emigrant parents, the poor 
child was obliged to assist at the patriotic processions 
which took place every month on the Republican holi- 
days. She often said : " I was very ill used on those 
occasions by my companions, the young girls of the 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 201 

neighbourhood. They could not forgive me my tall 
stature and genteel f' atures, which contrasted with 
those of the greatest part among them. The daughter 
of an emigrant marquis and an imprisoned mother 
could scarcely share the honour of their company. As 
for me, the exclusion had nothing disgraceful in my 
eyes; but my governess, though she had none of the 
prejudices of my companions, look great care to con- 
duct me to their assemblies for her own interest. The 
least reluctance she would have shown for it might 
have exposed her to be arrested." 

At that terrible period of madness and fanaticism, 
private life was subject to jealous and perpetual super- 
vision. The porter of a nobleman's house was obliged, 
for his individual safety, to become a spy and an in- 
former. The servants were again the masters, or ra- 
ther the tyrants, of those who employed them. They 
were displeased that the daughter of an emigrant was 
not bound in apprenticeship, and that she maintained 
in her manners and occupations something genteel 
and delicate. The two cousins of Emilie were both 
apprentices, — Hortense to her mother's mantua-maker; 
Eugene to a joiner in the Faubourg St. Germain. The 
9th Thermidor having overthrown tyranny, Madame de 
Beauharnais got out of prison, and Emilie was sent 
with her cousin to a boarding-school which Madame 
Campan had established at St. Germain-en-Laye. — 
There she continued her education, which had been in- 
terrupted during two years. 

General Buonaparte, to whom I was at that time 
aide-de-camp, had sent me in 1796 to Paris, that I 
might follow the motions of the two Councils and the 
Directory. I had written to him the truth, with a 
frankness that made him sensible how dangerous and 
how disgraceful it would be to confirm, by his assent, 
the coup d^etat of the 18ih. Fructidor. The Directory 
soon became acquainted with ray opinions; and though 
they dared not punish me for them, they expressed so 
great a resentment, that General Bonaparte did not 
think fit to take me with him to Paris, when he returned 
from the army of Italy. He left me at the Congress of 
Rastadt ; and I rejoined him only three weeks before his 
departure for the Egyptian expedition. All my com- 
rades had obtained advancement : the general wished to 



202 MEMOIRS OF 

reward me also; but, not willing to expose himself to a 
refusal from Government, he determined to bring about 
a marriage between me and Mademoiselle Beauharnais. 

One day, when I had accompanied him to the treasu- 
ry, to expedite the sending off of the sums that were re- 
quired at Toulon for the fleet, he ordered his coachman 
to drive along the new Boulevards, that he might have 
at his leisure a conversation with me. " I cannot make 
a major of you," he said ; " I must therefore give you a 
wife : — you shall marry Emilie de Beauharnais. She 
is very handsome, and very well educated. Do you know 
her ?" — " I have seen her twice. But, General, I have 
no fortune. We are going to Africa : I may be killed — 
what will become, in that case, of my poor widow ? Be- 
sides, I have no great liking for marriage." — " Men must 
marry to have descendants; that is the chief aim of life. 
Killed you certainly may be. Well, in that case she will 
be the widow of one of my aides-de-camp — of a defender 
of his country. She will have a pension, and may again 
marry advantageously. Now, she is the daughter of an 
emigrant that nobody will have : my wife cannot intro- 
duce her into society. She, poor girl I deserves a better 
fate. Come, this business must be quickly settled. Talk 
this morning with Mad. Bonaparte about it : the mother 
has already given her consent. The wedding shall take 
place in eight days ; I will allow you a fortnight for 
your honeymoon. You must then come and join us at 
Toulon on the 29th." (It was then the 9th.) I could 
not help laughing all the while he spoke : — at last I said: 
" I will do whatever you please. But will the girl have 
me ? I do not wish to force her inclinations." — " She 
is tired of her boarding-school, and she would be unhap- 
py if she were to go to her mother's. During your ab- 
sence, she shall live with her grandfather at Fontaine- 
bleau. You will not be killed ; and you will find her 
when you come back. Come, come ! the thing is settled. 
Tell the coachman to drive home." 

In the evening, I went to see Mad. Bonaparte. She 
knew what was going forward, and was kind enough to 
show some satisfaction, and call me her nephew. " To- 
morrow," she said, " we shall all go to St. Germaine. I 
will introduce you to my niece. You will be delighted 
with her : she is a charming girl !" Accordingly, next 
day, the general. Mad. Bonaparte, Eugene, and I, went 
in an open carriage to St. Germaine, and stopped at 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 203 

Mad. Campari's. The visit was a great event at the 
boarding-school : all the young girls w^ere at the win- 
dows, in the parlours, or in the court-yard, for they had 
obtained a holiday. We soon entered the gardens. 
Among the forty young ladies, I sought anxiously her 
who was to be my wife. Her cousin, Hortense, led her to 
us, that she might salute the general, and embrace her 
aunt. She was, in truth, the prettiest of them all. Her sta- 
ture was tall, and most gracefully elegant ; her features 
were charming; and the glow of her beautiful complexion 
was heightened by her confusion. Her bashfulness 
was so great, that the general could not help laughing 
at her ; but he went no farther. It was decided that we 
should breakfast on the grass in the garden. In the 
mean while I felt extremely uneasy. Would she like 
me ? Would she obey without reluctance ? This abrupt 
marriage, and this speedy departure, grieved me. When 
we got up, and the circle was broken, I begged Eugene 
to conduct his cousin into a solitary walk. I joined them, 
and he left us. I then entered on the delicate subject, 
I made no secret of my birth, nor of my want of fortune ; 
and added : " 1 possess nothing in the world but my 
sword, and the goodwill of the general ; and I must 
leave you in a fortnight. Open your heart to me. I 
feel myself disposed to love you with all my soul ; but 
that is not sufficient. If this marriage does not please 
you, repose a full confidence in me ; it will not be diffi- 
cult to find a pretext to break it off. I shall depart ; 
you will not be tormented, for I will keep your secret.'* 

While I was speaking, she kept her eyes fixed on the 
ground ; her only answer was a smile, and she gave me 
the nosegay she held in her hand. I embraced her. We 
returned slowly to the company ; and eight days after- 
wards we went to the municipality. The following 
day, a poor priest who had not taken the oaths, married 
us in the small convent of the Conception, in the Rue 
St. Honore. This was in some manner forbidden, but 
Emilie set a great importance on that point : her piety 
was gentle and sincere. 

A few days after our marriage, I was obliged to begin 
secretly to prepare for my journey to Toulon, where the 
general had already arrived. It was agreedthat Emilie 
should divide the time of my absence between her aunt 
and her grandfather, who was then eighty-six years old, 
but Avho preserved at that advanced age a sound under- 



204 MEMOIRS OF 

standing, an amiable and even temper, and who doated 
on his grand-daughter. I left her without taking leave 
of her : for our separation would have been too painful. 
I did not return until eighteen months afterwards. My 
forebodings were not fulfilled. Of the eight aides-de- 
camp of the general, four perished. Julian and Sulkow- 
ski were murdered by the Arabs, Crosier was killed at 
the siege of St. John of Acre, and Guibert at the battle 
of Aboukir. Duroc and Eugene Beauharnais were se- 
verely wounded. Merlin and I escaped. Glory and 
fortune were dearly bought with General Bonaparte. 

On my return to France, and a short lime after the 
18th Brumaire, I received an order to go to Saxony, 
with full power to negotiate a peace with Austria, in case 
she might be inclined so to do in the midst of the war. I 
took Madame de Lavallette with me. Since the year 
1792 the people of the North of Germany had not seen 
a Frenchwoman. They were convinced that they were 
all dissolute persons, without education, and almost nak- 
ed. Their astonishment was great when they saw a 
young woman, perfectly modest, extremely bashful, and 
dressed with a decorum and good taste that might have 
served as a model to tlie most prudish of her sex. The 
admiration she obtained increased the more she was 
known. We passed the carnival at Berlin. The whole 
court, and especially the Queen, loaded her with kind- 
ness and attention. She was the means of destroying 
the extravagant prejudices that were entertained against 
the French ladies, and of rendering the Germans very 
fastidious in respect to those that came after her. 

My stay in Germany was no longer necessary after 
the victory of Hohenlinden. Inconsequence, the First 
Consul recalled me near his person ; and when he placed 
the Imperial Crown on the head of Josephine, her niece 
was named Dame d'atours. Her functions were not 
easy to fulfil. The Emperor, who wanted to govern his 
household as he did his extensive empire, was far from ob- 
taining the same obedience there. He had ordered that 
the tradespeople who supplied the toilet of the Empress 
should only be admitted into her presence one day in the 
week ; that the Dame d'atours should assist at all the 
bargains, keep an account of what was bought, and be 
answerable for all want of order. These rules soon dis- 
pleased the Empress. The Dame d'atours remonstrat- 
ed ; she fell into disgrace, and by degrees her functions 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 205 

were reduced to those of a Dame du Palais. Fortunate- 
ly for her, the Emperor was not dissatisfied with her. 
But what she had been unable to do, the Emperor could 
not do either ; and the lady of honour, Madame de Roche- 
foucault, could not avoid many petty discussions that 
made her very uncomfortable. The divorce of the Em- 
peror, and his marriage v.ath Maria Louisa, restored Ma- 
dame de Lavallette to her liberty. From that time she 
appeared no more at the Tuileries ; so that the catastro- 
phe of 1814 found her prepared, and, excepting the pain 
her gratitude for the Emperor made her feel on his ac- 
count, she accustomed herself without much trouble to 
the obscure life she had led for thq^last three years, 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
I now return to my dungeon. During the night that 
followed my condemnation, I had written to two of my 
friends, General Clarke and M. Pasquier. I imagined 
that the former could not forget an important service he 
received from me when he was disgraced by the Direc- 
tory on the 18th Fructidor. " I have kept no secret from 
you ; (these were the words of my letter ;) J have reveal- 
ed every thing to my judges. See what you can do for 
me. Endeavour at least to spare me the horrible agony 
of the scaffold. Let me be shot by brave soldiers. In 
that manner, at least, death will be almost a favour to 
me." I will not give here literally his answer. I shall 
only mention the following phrase : " You have nothing 
more to do than to recommend your wife and child to the 
inexhaustible bounty of the King." The sentence of my 
death was less painful to me than the perusal of that let- 
ter. In my indignation I was going to write to him all 
his cruelty made me feel. I however contented myself 
with the agreeable thought, that my wife and child would 
never be found to implore the pity of him who had de- 
prived them of a father and a husband. I was still full 
of the agitation into which the letter of the Minister of 
War had thrown me, when my door was mysteriously 
opened. A man approached, pressed my hand, and, 
slipping a note in it, disappeared immediately. It was 
M. Angles, the Prefect of Police. The note was from 
M. Pasquier, and contained the following words : '^ Keep 
up your spirits ; all is not lost. His Majesty is surround- 
ed by several of your friends, and all that can be attempt- 
ed to soften him shall be done with courage. Hope still." 
18 



206 MEMOIKS OF 

Among the Peers who might interest themselves faf 
me, I was far from reckoning the^Duke de Ragusa. We 
had been for a long time united by the most cordial 
friendship ; but his conduct towards the Emperor in 
1814 had separated us, and I broke off our connection. 
I however received a letter from the marshal, in which 
he mentioned : '^ I used to go twice a-week to the Tui- 
leries ; now I shall go twice a-day. I will speak, I will 
solicit even till 1 grow troublesome. Whoever has any 
heart will join with me, and I hope to obtain my great- 
est wish in the world." 

These comfortings of courageous friendship could de- 
ceive me no longer. I saw that I had been condemned, 
as Marshal Ney was going to be, to serve as an example. 
He was, by his reputation, the first on the military hie- 
rarchy ; while I was in the eyes of the Court the most 
important man in the civil order,— the late Aide-de- 
Camp of General Bonaparte, first cousin of Prince Eu- 
gene and the Queen of Holland, whom they detested, — 
Postmaster-General during twelve years, and by that 
circumstance the depositary of a great many secrets it 
would be good to stifle; (such was at least their opinion.) 
My death was irrevocable. I therefore sought resigna- 
tion, to regard with a firm eye, and make myself fami- 
liar with all the details of that death I was shortly to 
undergo. The turnkeys had frequently described to me 
the last moments of most of the unfortunate men who' 
had left them for the Place de Greve. But I wanted ta 
know all that concerned what they call the toilet. A 
little before four o'clock the culprit is brought into the 
registering room ; scarcely has he crossed the low door 
that opens into that chamber, when the executioner and 
his men appear ; they make him sit down on a bench, 
take off his coat, cut off his hair and the collar of his 
shirt ; after which they tie his hands behind his back. 
They lead him thus to the cart that stands waiting at 
the door. This moment is terrible. Those who till 
then have shown the greatest courage and strength of 
mind, fall into a complete dejection, and confusion ; but 
the open air and the crowd of people generally revive 
them on the way. Sometimes also the exhortations of 
■ the confessor have their effect. I listened with atten- 
tion, repeated my questions, multiplied my observations, 
and asked every day to hear the fearful description over 
again, sometimes by one person and sometimes by ano- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 207 

ther. There were some who made it with reluctance ; 
but the oldest among the jailors seemed to delight in il. 
By that means I augmented my sufferings without 
reason. I experienced a horror and a shuddering that 
agitated my inmost frame. I walked in dismay up and 
down my room, and my sleepless nights were terrible. 
However, by my perseverance in recurring to the same 
idea I obtained at last what I so much wished for : a 
tranquillity at which the turnkeys were themselves sur- 
prised. At first, when listening to them I used to grow 
pale ; 1 now could hear them speak without emotion or 
reluctance. I had some time before cencealed in my 
straw mattress a table knife that belonged to me ; I lost 
all idea of making use of it. I found a sort of glory in 
challenging death, — in awaiting it as I would have done 
on the field of battle. 

The Minister of Justice, Count Barbe Marbise, was 
endeavouring to delay the judgmentof the Court of Cas- 
sation as long as possible, in hopes that time would mo- 
derate the feelings of the inhabitants of the palace; for 
all my enemies were there. The Princess de Vaude- 
mont, through her name of Montmorency, happened to 
be related to the most considerable persons of the court. 
Almost all of them owed to her their return to France, 
and the tranquillity they had enjoyed under the emperor ; 
for though the emperor did not like her, and mistrusted 
her, she had a great deal of influence over Messrs. de 
Talleyrand and Fouche, and made use of it with cou- 
rage and generosity. The king and his family had in- 
herited the emperor's dislike of her. They could not 
forgive her former connections with their former two 
powerful ministers. However, at her house there had 
been held some of the meetings which, in 1814, prepared 
the downfall of the Empire ; and though she only took 
in them a very indirect and timid part, I had left oS 
visiting her, after confessing openly the reasons of my 
conduct. But in my misfortune I found her animated 
with all the courageous devotion of a real friend. 
Through her M. de Richelieu was perpetually assailed. 
A great number of persons whose names I scarcely knew, 
made it a point of honour to obtain my pardon. Madame 
de Vaudemont recalled to their memory my behaviour in 
Saxony towards the unfortunate French whom I had 
found there, and in France during fourteen years. 1 
had facilitated the return of a great many ; and as I 



208 MEMOIRS OF 

never regarded them otherwise than as unfortunate coun- 
trymen, I had frequently employed my influence to be 
serviceable to them. Some of these kept it in their me- 
mories. But party spirit ran too high, and in particular 
the vi'ound inflicted by the 20th of March was stiil too 
painful, for the voice of generosity to be heard. Had my 
courage failed during the thirty days that elapsed be- 
tween the judgment of the Assize Court and that of the 
Court of Cassation, I must have died or have gone mad. 
Every morning I learned the measures that had been 
taken, and the obstacles that had been overcome, and 
every evening I received the most desperate news : — the 
stubbornness with which the Royal Family rejected all 
solicitations; the timidity and discouragement of M. de 
Richelieu ; and, finally, the impossibility of softening the 
Monarch. From time to time, some courageous friends 
came to see me in my prison, in spite of Government, 
who might have punished them. 

M. Pasquier, though a Secretary of State, and M.de 
Freville, Master of Requests, both told me to hope for 
the best ; but I easily discovered through their profes- 
sions, a secret discouragement, over which they could 
not triumph in my presence. " I could never have had 
the courage to come," said M. de Freville, " if I had 
not reckoned on the success of your friends." But 
while he was talking, the tears rolled in his eyes, and 
his trembling hand, that pressed mine, destroyed the 
hope his words were meant to convey. 

It was during this interval that Marshal Ney was 
tried. Even before his trial came on, the number of his 
guards had been considerably augmented. Day and 
night three sentries were stationed under his window, 
which was also mine : one gendarme, one national 
guard on horseback, and one grenadier of the old 
guard, or rather a disguised life-guard ; for they 
could not place confidence enough in the soldiers of 
the old army. I was soon satisfied in regard to that 
divSguise, by one of our relatives, Mademoiselle Du- 
bourg, who had obtained permission to see me. She 
had seen one of her cousins standing sentry, and in the 
uniform of an old grenadier of the cavalry of the 
Guards. Every evening the marshal was conveyed in 
a coach to the Luxembourg, and brought back to the 
Conciergerie the next morning. On the 7th of Decem- 
ber he did not return. I questioned the turnkey, who 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 209 

showed some confusion ; and, on insisting, I learned 
that the Marshal had been executed. " Was it in ther 
Place de Greve, on the scaffold ?" — " No ; he has been 
shot." — " What a happy man he is !" I joyfully ex- 
claimed ; and the poor turnkey, who did not under- 
stand what I meant, thought I was run mad. Time 
however passed on: one of my counsel advised me not 
to wait for the judgment of the Court of Cassation, but 
to write to the king and invoke his clemency. I had 
an invincible reluctance to take such a step. Besides, 
his colleague was not of the same opinion. " It might 
be very dangerous," he said, " or at best produce no 
effect at all. If the king wishes to pardon him, he will 
wait for the judgment of the court. If he is decided 
not to do it, he still will wait. It is therefore prefer- 
able not to alter any thing in the present progress of 
the business." 

The Duchess ofPlacentia, a daughter of the Minis- 
ter of Justice, came one day to fetch Madame Laval- 
lette, and conduct her to her father. The two ladies 
fell at the feet of the venerable old man. His daughter 
was bathed in tears ; she pressed his hands in hers, 
and solicited, with a degree of vehemence, of which 
those who knew her can alone have an idea. While 
he listened to her, the tears trickled in silence down 
the cheeks of the minister, but she could not obtain a 
single word of him. This was a bad omen. It was 
evident that he had but little hope. Finally, on the 
20th of December, the cause came on before the Su- 
preme Court of Judicature. Six motions for laying the 
verdict aside were alleged in the writ of error; but, 
notwithstanding the eloquent pleadings of M. Darri- 
>eux, the sentence was confirmed. It was M. Baudus, one 
of my friends, who came to acquaint me with the fatal 
news ; but he endeavoured to counteract the impres- 
sion it made on me by holding out hopes, which in fact 
appeared so certain that I began to share them. An 
hour after he was gone, M. de Carvoisin came into my 
room. The terrible impression the judgment had made 
on him, was visible in his face : he still hoped ; but his 
arguments were those of a prepossessed mind, who 
would have found it easier to talk to me of resigna- 
tion. 

Three davs were now all thai were left to me ; and 
18* ' 



210 ME3I0IRS OF 

in that short space of time means were to be found to 
approach the king. The Duke de Ragusa took that 
charge upon himself. General Foy came in his name 
to fetch Madame de Lavallelte, and led her by round 
about passages to the entrance of the Gallerie de Di- 
ane, where she found the Marshal, who offered his arm 
and read to her the memorial she was to present to 
the king. It was during mass. The whole court was 
at the chapel. The king was obliged to pass through 
that same gallery to return to his apartments. Unfor- 
nately, one of the vergers who was there knew ray 
wife ; and as it was against the custom for any one to 
stand in the gallery without a special order, he thought 
it necessary to acquaint the Marshal with that circum- 
stance, and beg he would lead Madame de Lavallette 
away. " This lady shall remain," said the Marshal in 
a firm tone. The verger went to acquaint an officer 
of the Palace of what had happened, who repeated the 
warning in so positive a tone that the marshal might 
look upon it as an order : however, he replied : " This 
lady, being here, shall remain ; I will answer for every 
thing." In the mean while the court was advancing. 
The king, who had been informed of the fact, felt it 
was too late to send away an unfortunate woman, who 
might perhaps cause some tumult by her resistance. — 
He therefore advanced ; and when he came facing Ma- 
dame de Lavallette, she fell at his feet, and presented 
her memorial. The monarch bowed to her, took tho 
paper, and saying, " Madame, I can do nothing but my 
duty," went on. My wife held in her hand a second 
memorial for the Duchess of Angouleme. The Duke de 
Ragusa, seeing her hesitate, pressed her to go after the 
Princess and give it to her. She was already advanc- 
ing, when M. d'Agoult, Chevalier d'Honneur, with his 
two arms extended and his hands open, forced her to 
stop.* 

This observation of the king was very unlike the 
one he had made a month before, when Madame de 
Lavallette was admitted into his closet. He now talk- 
ed of his duty when his clemency was invoked. The 



* The Duke de Ragusa fell into long disgrace, and was very ill 
treated for his courageous kindness on this occasion. I have been 
told that a prince, who is now no more, forgot himself so far in his 
passion as to say — " He deserves to be sent to the galleys." — Kote 
of the Author. 



COUNT LAVAI^LBTTE. 21 I 

word was appalling. Emilie seemed at first not to feel 
its full force | but my fate was decided bj it, and I 
<juick!y began to think what I should do to deceive 
and keep my wife and child away during two days. — 
In regard to the former, that was no easy thing. Her 
courage augmented in proportion to my danger, and 
she resolved to make a fresh appeal to the Duchess of 
Angouleme. The Princess lodged on the ground-floor 
of the Tuileries, in the apartments previously occupied 
by the king of Rome. Madame de Lavallette put off 
the black dress she had worn the day before at the Pa- 
lace, got out of her sedan chair in a neighbouring 
street, and presented herself at the princess's door at 
the usual hour of admittance. Her pale features, her 
swollen eyes, her slow step, soon told the footman who 
she Vi^as. The door was immediately shut, and an order 
given not to let any one in. Finding that entrance was 
prohibited at this door, she hastened to seek it at the 
grand vestibule ; but a footman ran before her to tell 
of her arrival, and she was also repulsed there. Ex- 
hausted with fatigue, she sat down on the stone steps 
leading to the court-yard, and remained there a full hour, 
still in the delusive hope that she would be admitted. 
She attracted the notice of all who passed by, and es- 
pecially all those who went into the Palace ; but no 
one dared to show her the least commiseration. At last 
she resolved to leave the place and return to my dun- 
geon, where siie arrived exhausted and heart-broken. 

^ CHAPTER XXV. 

I felt, however,' that my hours were numbered : I had 
no more than forty-eight left, for only three days are 
allowed for convicts to apply for mercy. The Keeper of 
the Seals chose not to present his petition before the se- 
cond day. The king had already silenced the Duke de 
Richelieu on the subject. All my friends were in de- 
spair. The turnkeys themselves came no longer near 
me. Eberle, who was more especially attached to my 
service, spoke no more to me. He wandered about my 
room, apparently without knowing what he did. It 
was on a Sunday evening. "They usually execute 
criminals on a Friday ?" I said, — " Sometimes on a Sa- 
turday," he answered, stifling a sigh. " The execution 
generally takes place at four o'clock ?" — " Sometimes 
in the morning." Saying these words, he went out and 



212 MEMOIRS OF 

forgot to shut the door. A female turnkey of the wo- 
men's prison was just going by at the time : seeing me 
alone, she rushed into the room, seized the cross of the 
Legion of Honour I wore, kissed it with transport, and 
ran away in tears. This enthusiastic action of a wo- 
man I had never seen but at a distance, and to whom I 
had never spoken, told me at last my fate. My wife 
came at six o'clock to dine with me. She brought with 
her a relation, Mademoiselle Dubourg. When we were 
alone, she said : " It appears but too certain that we 
have nothing to hope ; we must therefore, my dear, take 
a resolution, and this is what I propose to you. At 
eight o'clock you shall go out dressed in my clothes, 
and accompanied by my cousin. You shall step into 
my sedan chair, which will carry you to the Rue des 
St. Peres, where you will find M. Baudus with a cabrio- 
let, who will conduct you to a retreat he has prepared 
for you, and where you may await without danger a fa- 
vourable opportunity of leaving France." 

I listened to her and looked at her in silence. Her 
manner was calm, and her voice firm. She appeared 
so convinced of the success of her plan, that it was 
some time before I dared to reply. I looked, however, 
upon the whole as a mad undertaking. I was at last 
obliged to tell her so ; but she interrupted me at the 
first word by saying : " I will hear of no objections. I 
die if you die. Do not therefore reject my plan. I 
know it will succeed. I feel that God supports me !" 
It was in vain that I reminded her of the numerous 
turnkeys with whom she was surrounded every evening 
when she left me : the jailor who hanfled her to her se- 
dan chair; the impossibility of my being sufficiently 
disguised to deceive them ; and finally my invincible re- 
luctance to leave her in the hands of the prison keepers. 
" What will they do," I said, " when they discover that 
I am gone ? These brutes, in their blind rage, will they 
not forget themselves and perhaps strike you?" I was 
going on, but I soon saw, by the paleness of her coun- 
tenance and the movements of convulsive impatience 
that were beginning to agitate her, that I ought to put 
an end to all objections. I remained silent for a few 
minutes, at the end of which I continued thus ; " Well, 
then, I shall do as you please ; but if you want to suc- 
ceed, permit me to make at least one observation. The 
cabriolet is too far off. I shall be scarcely gone when 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 213 

my flight will be discovered, and I shall most undoubt- 
edly be stopped in the chair, for near an hour is requir- 
ed to the Rue des St. Peres. I cannot escape on foot 
with your clothes." This reflection seemed to strike 
her. "Change," I added, "that part of your plan. 
The whole. of to-morrow is still at our disposal: I pro- 
mise to do to-morrow all you wish." — " Well, you are 
in the right. I will have the cabriolet stationed near. 
Give me your word that you will obey me, for that is 
our last resource." I took her hand and answered ; 
*' I will do all you wish, and in the manner you wish it." 
This promise made her easy, and we separated. 

The more I reflected on her plan, the more impracti- 
cable it appeared to me. She was full half an inch taller 
than I am ; all the turnkeys were accustomed to see 
her ; her figure was slender and flexible. It is true that 
my troubles had made me much thinner ; but neverthe- 
less the difference between us was striking. On the 
other hand, I was so well prepared to die ! I had in truth 
begun again during the last two days to deliberate with 
myself whether I should not use my hidden means of 
self-destruction. The toUel of the executioner, the slow 
march from the Conciergerie to the Greve, startled me; 
but still my heart remained firm. And all of a sudden 
I w^as obliged to turn my eyes from death, and direct 
my thoughts on the details of an escape, impossible to 
be realized, and which to me appeared extravagant. 
The burlesque was about to be mixed with the tragic 
part of my story ; for I should certainly be retaken in 
woman's clothes, and they would perhaps be cruel 
enough to expose me to the public under that ridicu- 
lous disguise. But, on the other side, how could I re- 
fuse ? Emilie appeared so happy at her plan, so sure of 
its success I It would be killing her not to keep my word. 

The following day, while I was still absorbed in these 
dismal thoughts, she came. I learned from her that on 
leaving me the evening before, she had gone to the Rue 
du Bac, and had stepped out of her chair at a short dis- 
tance from the Hotel of the Minister of Foreign Affairs ; 
M. Baudus having advised her to make one more endea- 
vour with that minister. But ingenuity was required to 
eom'3 at him. She had asked the porter which were the 
apartments of M. Bresson, Treasurer of the Department: 
and as he lived in the first court, she stopped for a few 
minates on the staircase, and then went into the second 



214 MEMOIRS OF 

court and arrived at the minister's antechamber. She 
was told that his excellency was out. " I will wait," 
was her reply. The valet-de-chambre, to whom she ad- 
dressed herself, recognized her, and went to complain to 
the porter, to whom orders had been given, since the 
morning, not to let her in ; for her presence before the 
door of the Duchess of Angouleme had put every body 
on the alert. The porter came, much out of humour, 
and among many reproaches he said to her, " You put 
me in danger of losing my place." "I deceived you, — 
there was no fault of yours. I am resolved to see the mi- 
nister. If he is out, I will wait for him ; if he is at home, 
I will pass the night in this room. Violence alone shall 
drag me out of it ; you may go and say so to your mas- 
ter." What could the minister do ? He admitted her : 
Madame Lavallette explained to him in a clear and 
brief manner the whole trial ; expressed with force how 
unjust my condemnation was, and concluded with invok- 
ing his intercession with the king. The Duke de Riche- 
lieu listened to her with downcast eyes. He seemed to 
pity her, but at last confessed that the king had forbid- 
den him to say a word more about the business. " Then, 
Sir, save him yourself" — " Madam, that would be a 
criminal act." — "Cannot you at least present a fresh 
memorial in my name ?" The duke, eagerly seizing the 
idea, answered : " I consent to that. Send it to me to- 
morrow by eight o'clock, and I give you my word that 
it shall be delivered without delay to his majesty."* 

" I went," said Emilie, " immediately to your lawyer 
for that memorial. M. de Piichelieu has received it this 
morning, and it must be by this time in the hands of the 
king. My plan shall nevertheless be executed to-night. 
To-morrow it would certainly be too late, as we have re- 
ceived no accounts from the Palace. 1 shall come and 
dine with you : keep up your spirits, you will want them. 
As for me, I feel that 1 have courage for four-and-twen- 
ty hours, and not for a moment longer," she added with 
a sigh, " for I am exhaused with fatigue." 

She was right to count the hours. She was scarcely 
gone when the jailor came in and said : " One of the 
editors of the Quoiidienne has been with me to inquire 
whether it was true that you had asked for four confes- 



* All these particulars were given to me since by M. Baudus, to 
whom the minister communicated them. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 115 

sofs, that he might print it in his paper." — " Four, — 
that's a great many ; and what answer did you give 
him ?" — " The truth. That I had not introduced a sin- 
gle one." (I guessed that this was a covered warning.) 
'^-^" Well, wait a little ; by and by I shall give you tije 
address of a clergyman. This whole day is my own." 
He made no reply, and went away shaking his head ; a 
little while afterwards M. de Carvoisin arrived. He 
threw himself into my arms and burst into tears ; I 
made him sit down, and sought to soothe him ; my own 
tranquillity made him recover a little. " The vicar of 
St. Sulpice," he said, '* has just been at my house; he 
will not refuse to lend you his spiritual aid if you require 
it, because you are one of his parishioners, but I beg you 
to spare him. He assisted Marshal Ney in his last 
moments, and he has confessed to me that the scene af- 
fected him so much, he does not feel the courage to go 
through another. He is nevertheless ready to come, if 
you insist upon it." — " Thank him, my friend, — I have 
another clergyman in view ; 1 shall send for him this 
evening, but not before." 

The excellent man wished to enter into some particu- 
lars, but he had not the power to do so. At that mo- 
ment my daughter was introduced with an old nun, the 
portress of L^Abbaye aux Bois. Josephine wept in si- 
lence ; the nun exclaimed : " What have I done, that 
God dooms me to witness such horror ?" Her sighs, her 
sobs, her endiess invocations, annoyed me at last. I felt 
that I should lose all my courage if I did not quickly 
put an end to the scene. I therefore took M. de Car- 
voisin aside and said to him, " Take leave of me and go 
away softly ; your grief distresses me : — adieu ! do not 
forget me." I should have wished to retain my daugh- 
ter much longer ; but the sight rent my heart to pieces : 
I took her on my knee, — her head fell on my breast. I 
attempted to speak to her, but it was impossible for me 
to utter any words of comfort. At last I placed her in 
a chair, and began to walk up and down the mom, pant- 
ing in vain for breath. I was therefore obliged to take a 
resolution with her also. " Go back to your convent," 
I said ; " I shall see you again to-morrow, I promise it 
you : my affair is in a better way than you think. Do 
not speak to any person about it, but be sure I shall see 
you to-morrow." She was scarcely gone when all my 
strength left me. I burst into tears at the parting of my 



216 MEMOIHS OF 

only child, and I had a great deal to do to regain mj 
wonted courage. I succeeded, however, at last. 

At five o'clock Emilie came, accompanied by Jose- 
phine, whom 1 saw again with as much surprise as plea- 
sure. " I believe," slie said, " it is better to take our 
child with us. I shall make her do with more docility 
what I want." She was dressed in a pelisse of merino rich- 
ly lined with fur, which she was accustomed to put on 
over her light dress on leaving a ball room. She had 
taken in her reticule a black silk petticoat. '* This is 
quite sufficient," she said, " to disguise you complete- 
ly." She then sent my daughter to the window, and 
added in a low voice, " At seven o'clock precisely you 
must be ready ; all is well prepared. In going out you 
will take hold of Josephine's arm. Take care to walk 
very slowly ; and when you cross the large registering- 
room, you will put on my gloves and cover your face 
with my handkerchief. I had some thoughts of putting 
on a veil, but unfortunately I have not been accustomed 
to wear one when I come here ; it is therefore of no use 
to think of it. Take great care, when you pass under 
the doors, which are very low, not to break the feathers 
of your bonnet, for then all would be lost. I always find 
the turnkeys in the registering-room, and the jailor gene- 
rally hands me to my chair, which constantly stands 
near the entrance door ; but this time it will be in the 
yard, at the top of the grand staircase. There you will 
be met after a short time by M. Baudus, who will lead 
you to the cabriolet, and will acquaint you with the place 
where you are to remain concealed. Afterwards, let 
God's will be done, my dear. Do exactly all I tell you. 
Remain calm. Give me your hand, I wish to feel your 
pulse. Very well. Now feel mine. Does it denote the 
slightest emotion ?" I could perceive that she was in a 
high fever. " But above all things," she added, " let 
us not give way to our feelings, that would be our ruin." 
I gave her, however, my marriage-ring, and on the pre- 
tence that if I were stopped in my journey to the fron- 
tiers, it would be advisable not to have any thing about 
me by which I might be known. She then called my 
daughter and said to her, " Listen attentively, child, to 
what I am going to say to you, for I shall make you re- 
peat it. I shall go away this evening at seven, o'clock 
instead of eight ; you must walk behind me, because 
you know that the doors are narrow ; but when we en- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 217 

ter the long registering-room, take care to place your- 
self on my left hand. The jailor is accustomed to offer 
me his arm on that side, and I do not choose to take it . 
When we are out of the iron gate, and ready to go up 
the outside staircase, then pass to my right-hand, that 
those impertinent gendarmes of the guard-house may 
not stare in my face as they always do. Have you un- 
derstood me well?" The cliild repeated the instructions 
with wonderful exactness. She had scarcely finished 
when St. Roses came to us. He had got introduced un- 
der the pretence of accompanying Madame de Lavallette 
home ; but his real aim was to see me once more, for he 
was not in our confidence. His presence would have 
been a great restraint upon us. I took him therefore 
aside, and said to him " Leave us now, my friend. 
Emilie has yet no idea of her misfortune. We must let her 
continue in her ignorance. Come back at eight o'clock ; 
but do not come in if the sedan-chair is no longer there. 
In that case, go immediately to her house, for she will 
be there." 

I embraced him, and forced him out of the door. But 
there soon came another visiter ; it was Colonel Brique- 
ville, whose wounds had kept him at home for about 
two months. He had not expected to see my wife, and 
he soon perceived that his presence might be intrusive, 
though he was not yet acquainted with the whole ex- 
lent of my horrible situation. So great was his emo- 
tion, that I was afraid it would become contagious. 
" Leave us," I whispered to him ; " this is the last time 
I see her. One moment's weakness may kill her." At 
last we remained alone. I looked at Emilie ; I thought 
of all the obstacles I should find in my way, and which 
would overwlielm us. A fatal idea crossed my mind: 
*' Suppose," said I, " you were to go to the jailor and offer 
him one hundred thousand francs if he will shut his 
eyes when I pass ; he will perhaps consent and we shall 
all be saved.'' She looked at me for a moment in si- 
lence, and then replied, " Well, I will go." She went 
out and came back after a few minutes. I already re- 
pented the step I had made her take. I was sensible 
how useless, how imprudent it was. But when she re- 
turned, she said to me calmly, " It is of no use. I drew 
from the jailor but a few words, and these were suffi- 
cient to convince me of his honesty, therefore let us 
think no more of it." 
19 



218 MEMOIRS OF 

Dinner was at last brought up. Just as we were go- 
ing to sit down to table, an old nurse of ours, Madame 
Dutoit, who had accompanied Josephine, came in very 
ill. Madame de Lavallette had left her in the register- 
ing-room, intending to send her after me when I should 
be gone ; but the heat of the German stove and her 
emotion had made her so ill, and she had so long insisted 
on seeing me once more, that the turnkey let her in 
without the permission of the jailor. Far from being 
useful to us, the poor woman only added to our con- 
fusion. She might lose her presence of mind at the 
sight of my disguise ; but what was to be done ? The 
first object was to make her cease her meanings, and 
Emilie said to her in a low but firm voice, " No child- 
ishness. Sit down to table, but do not eal ; hold your 
tongue, and keep this smelling-bottle to your nose. In 
less than an hour you will be in the open air." This 
meal, which to all appearance was to be the last of my 
life, was terrible. The bits stopped in our throats ; not 
a word was uttered by any of us, and in that situation 
we were to pass almost an hour. Six and three-quar- 
ters struck at last. " I only want five minutes, but I 
must speak to Bonneville," said Madame de Lavallette. 
She pulled the bell, and the valet-de-chambre came in ; 
she took him aside, whispered a few words to him, and 
added aloud, " Take care that the chairmen be at their 
posts, for I am coming. — Now," she said to me, "it is 
time to dress." 

A part of my room was divided off by a screen, and 
formed a sort of dressing-closet. We stepped behind 
the screen, and, while she was dressing me with 
charming presence of mind and expedition, she said to 
me, " Do not forget to stoop when you go through the 
doors ; walk slowly through the registering room, like 
a person exhausted with fatigue." In less than three 
minutes my toilet was complete. We went back to 
the room, and Emilie said to her daughter, " What do 
you think of your father?" A smile of surprise and in- 
credulity eseaped the poor girl : '' I am serious, my 
dear, what do you think of bim ?" I then turned round, 
and advanced a few steps : " He looks very well," she 
answered ; and her head fell again, oppressed, on her 
bosom. We all advanced in silence towards the door. 
I said to Emilie, " The jailor comes iii every evening 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 219 

after you are gone. Place yourself behind the screen, 
and make a little noise, as if you were moving some 
piece of furniture. He will think it is I, and will go 
out again. By that means I shall gain a few minutes, 
which are absolutely necessary for me to get away." 
She understood me, and I pulled the bell. "Adieu!" 
she said, raising her eyes to Heaven. I pressed her 
arm with my trembling hand, and we exchanged a look. 
If we had embraced, we had been ruined. The turn- 
key was heard; Erailie flew behind the screen ; the 
door opened ; I passed first, then my daughter, and last- 
ly Madame Dutoit. After having crossed the passage, 
1 arrived at the door of the registering-room. I was 
obliged, at the same time, to raise my foot and to stoop 
lest the feathers of my bonnet should catch at the top, 
of the door. I succeeded; but, on raising myself again 
I found myself in the large apartment, in the presence 
of five turnkeys, sitting, standing, and coming in my 
way. I put my handkerchief to my face, and was wait- 
ing for my daughter to place herself on my left hand. 
The child, however, took my right hand ; and the 
jailor, coming down the stairs of his apartment, which 
was on the left hand, came up to me without hindrance, 
and, putting his hand on my arm, said to me, " You 
are going away early, Madame." He appeared much 
affected, and undoubtedly thought my wife had taken 
an everlasting leave of her husband. It has been said, 
that my daughter and I sobbed aloud : the fact is, we 
scarcely dared to sigh. I at last reached the end of the 
room. A turnkey sits there day and night, in a large 
arm-chair, and in a space so narrow, that he can keep his 
hands on the keys of two doors, one of iron bars, and 
the other towards the outer part, and which is called 
the first wicket. This man looked at me without 
opening his doors. I passed mj' right hand between 
the bars, to show him I wished to go out. He turned, 
at last, his two keys, and we got out. There my 
daughter did not mistake again, but took my right arm. 
We had a few steps to ascend to come to the yard ; but, 
at the bottom of the staircase there is a guard-house of 
gendarmes. About twenty soldiers, headed by their 
officer, had placed themselves a few paces from me to 
see Madame de Lavallette pass. At last, I slowly reached 
the last step, and went into the chair that stood a yard 



220 MEMOIRS OF 

or two distant. But no chairman, no servant was 
there. My daug-hter and the old woman remained 
standing next to the vehicle, with a sentry at six paces 
from them, immoveable, and his eyes fixed on me. A 
violent degree of agitation began to mingle with my as- 
tonishment. My looks were directed towards the sen- 
try's musket, like those of a serpent towards its prey. 
It almost seemed to me that I held that musket in my 
grasp. At the first motion, at the first noise, I was re- 
solved to seize it. I felt as if I possessed the strength 
of ten men ; and I would most certainly have killed 
whoever had attempted to lay hands on me. This ter- 
rible situation lasted about two minutes ; but they seem- 
ed to me as long as a whole night. At last I heard 
Bonneville's voice saying to me, " One of the chairmen 
was not punctual, but I have found another." At the 
same instant, I felt myself raised. The chair passed 
though the great court, and, on getting out, turned to 
the right. We proceeded to the Quai des Orfevies, 
facing the Rue de Harlay. There the chair stopped ; 
and my friend Baudus, offering me his arm, said 
aloud, " You know, Madam, you have a visit to pay 
to the President." I got out, and he pointed to a cabrio- 
let that stood at some distance in that dark street. 
I jumped into it, and the driver said to me, " Give me 
my whip." I looked for it in vain ; — he had dropped it. 
*' Never mind," said my companion. A motion of the 
reins made the horse start off in a rapid trot. In pass- 
ing by, I saw Josephine on the Quai, her hands clasp- 
ed, and fervently offering up prayers to God. We 
crossed the Pout St. Michel, the Rue de la Harpe, 
and we soon reached the Rue de Vaugirard behind the 
Odeon theatre. It was not till then that I breathed at 
jcase. In looking at the driver of the cabriolet, how 
great was my astonishment to recognise Count Chas- 
senon, whom I was very far from expecting to find 
there. " What !" said I, " is it you ?"^-'' Yes ; and you 
have behind you four double-barrelled pistols, well 
loaded ; I hope you will make use of them." "No, in- 
deed, I will not compromise you." "Then I shall set 
you the example, and woe to whoever shall attempt to 
stop your flight." 

We entered the new Boulevard, at the corner of the 
Rue Plumet : there we stopped. I placed a white 
pocket-handkerchief in the front of the cabriolet. This 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. g2t 

was the signal agreed upon with M. Baudus. During 
the way, I had thrown oiF all the female attire with 
which I was disguised, and put on a dicky great coat 
with a round silver-laced hat. M. Baudus soon joined 
OS. I took leave of M. de Chassenon, and modestly fol- 
lowed my new master. It was eight o'clock in the 
evening; it poured down rain; the night was extreme- 
ly dark, and the solitude complete in that part of the 
Faubourg St, Germain. I walked with difficulty. M. 
Baudus went on more rapidly, and it was not without 
trouble that I could keep up with him. I soon left one 
of my shoes in the mire, but I was, nevertheless, obliged 
to get oxu We saw gendarmes galloping along, who 
were undoubtedly in search of me, and never imagined 
that I was so near them. Finally, after one hour's walk, 
fatigued to death, with one shoe on, and one off, we ar- 
rived in the Rue de Grenelle, near the Rue de Bac, 
where M. Baudus stopped for a moment. " I am go- 
ing," he said, " to enter a nobleman's hotel. While I 
speak to the porter, get into the court. You will find a 
staircase on your left hand. Go up to the highest story. 
Go through a dark passage you will meet with to the 
right, and at the bottom of which is a pile of wood. Stop 
there." We then walked a few steps up the Rue deBac, 
and I was seized with a sort of giddiness when I saw 
him knock at the door of the Minister for Foreign Af- 
fairs, the Duke de Richelieu. M. Baudus went in first ; 
and, while he was talking to the porter, who had thrust 
his head out of his lodge, I passed rapidly by. " Where 
is that man going ?" cried the porter. " It is my ser- 
vant." I quickly went up to the third floor, and reach- 
ed the place that had been described to me. I was 
scarcely there, when I heard the rustling of a silk gown. 
I felt myself gently taken by the arm, and pushed into 
an apartment, the door of which was immediately shut 
upon me. I stepped on towards a lighted fire, which 
cast round the room a very faint glimmering, Having 
placed my hands upon the stove to warm myself, I 
found a candle-stick and a bundle of matches. I guess- 
ed that I might Hght a candle. I did so ; and I examin- 
ed my new abode. It was a middle-sized room, on the 
garret-floor. The furniture consisted of a very clean 
bed, a chest of drawers, two chairs, and a small German 
stove, of earthenware. On the chest of drawers I found 
a paper, on which the following words were written : — 
19* 



222 MEMOIRS OF 

" Make no noise. Never open your windows but in the 
nig-ht, wear slippers of list, and wait with patience." 
Next to this paper was a bottle of claret, several vo- 
lumes of Moliere and Rabelais, and a basket containing 
sponges, perfumed soap, almond-paste, and all the little 
utensils of a gentleman's dressing-box. The delicate 
attentions and the neat handwriting of the note, made 
me guess that my hosts combined with their most ge- 
nerous feelings elegant and refined manners. But why 
was I in the Hotel of Foreign Affairs? I had never 
seen the Duke de Richelieu. M. Baudus was indeed 
attached to that department, but in a very indirect 
manner. I could not have inspired any interest in the 
king. Besides, in that case, it would have been more 
natural to pardon me. If I was there by the connivance 
of the minister, what reason could he have had lo vio- 
late his sacred duties, belie the loyalty he owed to his 
sovereign, associate himself with the party of Bona- 
parte, and protect a criminal sentenced for a conspiracy ? 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

I remained lost in these reflections when the door 
slowly opened, and I found myself in the arms of M. 
Baudus. After the first transports of joyful emotion 
were over, I hastened to address to him the questions 
that perplexed me, but he interrupted me by saying : — 
*' I comprehend you; but keep your curiosity within 
bounds : the truth is, that the day before yesterday, Ma- 
dame de Lavallette sent for me, and when the servants 
were gone and the door shut, she said : ' I am resolved 
to save my husband, as his pardon cannot be obtained ; 
but I do not know where to conceal him. My rela- 
tions and friends are imable to serve me. I address 
myself to you with confidence. Procure him only 
a hiding-place, and he shall be free to-morrow.' This 
appeal was abrupt and disconcerted me. You know, I 
mix very little in society. To conceal you in my lodg- 
gings would have been impossible : I live in a furnished 
hotel, where there are thirty persons besides myself. I 
mentioned this to Madame de Lavallette. ' Think about 
it immediately,' she replied ; ' you must find for me 
what I want. At last, afiter a great deal of hesitation, I 
requested two horn's' time ; observing that I was connect- 
ed with a family who had suffered misfortune them- 
selves, and who entertained most admirable feelings of 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 223 

courage and devotion. ' Go quickly, and acquaint them 
with my situation. I shall owe my life to them, if they 
conceal my husband.' I asked for some particulars. 
* No, no,' she said ; ' you shall know all when you come 
back ; but first run to your friends.' I left her, and 
came hither. * Stop : no impatience ! you are at M. 
Bresson's, the treasurer for the department of foreign 
affairs. Let me go on. Madame Bresson, since her 
husband's proscription, had made a vow, in the excess 
of her gratitude towards those who had concealed him, 
to save some person condemned for a political crime, if 
ever Providence favoured her sufficiently for any one to 
fall in her way. I therefore came to her, and said that 
the time was come for the fulfilment of her vow, and I 
acquainted her with your history and Madame de La- 
vaUette's resolution. ' Let him come !' she said, with 
enthusiasm : ' my husband is not at home ; but I need 
not consult him for the performance of a good action. 
He shares all my sentiments. I shall immediately pre- 
pare a room, where the unfortunate man will be safe. 
Go and acquaint Madame de Lavallette.' I went back 
to her, and then she explained to me her plan. I listen- 
ed to her in silence : this was not a fit moment for ob- 
jections. She talked with so much confidence — she 
seemed so sure of success, that I entered with ardour 
into all the details of the enterprise ; — but I wanted a 
private cabriolet. With Madame de Lavallette's permis- 
sion, I went to M. de Chassenon, whom I knew to be 
a man both devoted and resolute. These are the means 
by which you came here, for the success of which a 
sort of miracle was required ; for, I must confess, I do 
not myself comprehend how it was done. Now you 
must be sensible of how much importance it is to your 
generous friends that nobody may ever know they afford- 
ed you this retreat : the whole family would be ruined. 
M. Bresson cannot do without his situation : he has a 
daughter and nephews to establish. Being a public 
functionary, and lodged imder the king's roof, honoured 
with the trust of his minister, he knows fidl well all the 
irregularity of his conduct. But on the other hand, he 
is convinced of your innocence ; — and what are all other 
considerations when put in the scale with a man's life ? 
We shall now set about getting you away from hence 
and beyond the frontiers, which will not be an easy mat- 



224 MEMOIRS OF 

ter ; but the most important object is achieved, and 
Providence v^^ill not leave the work imperfect." 

M. Baudus then left me, and I remained alone du- 
ring two hours, scarcely daring to make any motion, or 
even to breathe, buried in sad reflections on the situa- 
tion of my poor Emilie, who remained as a hostage in 
my dungeon. At about eleven o'clock in the evening 
the door opened once more, and I saw a lady enter my 
lodgings. She was dressed in the highest fashion, and 
her face was covered with a veil ; she was accompanied 
by a yoimg girl, who appeared to be about fourteen years 
old. The lady threw herself into my arms, while the 
child remained standing bashfully, and in. tears, next to 
her mother. In the midst of the deep emotions that 
agitated us all, I could not help saying — " For heaven's 
name ! Madame, raise that veil, that I may see the fea- 
tures of the angelic person to whom I owe my life !" — 
" We are not acquainted," she replied, raising her veil ; 
" but I feel happy in taking a part in the heroic action 
of Madame de Lavallette." In fact, I never had seen 
Madame Bresson. She was at that time forty years of 
age ; but her fine complexion and elegant figure made 
her look at least ten years younger. She placed on the 
stove a sort of tureen. " That is your dinner," she 
said ; " the two courses are in the same vessel : you vdll 
make but sorry fare, but we are obliged to rob ourselves 
to feed you. I do not choose to tell the secret to any of 
our servants ; they all sleep in this corridor, and the 
next room is occupied by my nephew Stanislaus. So 
make no noise in the morning; but make your bed and . 
sweep your room yourself. The apartment you are in 
never having been inhabited, the least sound might ruin 
us all." 

She left me after an hour's conversation. M. Bresson 
came afterwards : I had wept with the ladies, — his visit 
made me rather merrier. I was no better acquainted 
with him than his wife. I had seen him once, fifteen 
years before, at the time I went to Saxony ; — once more 
also, I think, at my return ; and our acquaintance hav- 
ing ended by my not pursuing the diplomatic career, we 
had not met again. M. Bresson had very agreeable 
features, an elegant and cultivated mind, and an ener- 
getic character, of which he had more than once given 
the most striking proofs. It was not his attachment to 
the emperor that had persuaded him to place himself in 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 225 

SO dangerous a situation to serve me, and I do not be- 
iieve that he ever was very fond either of Napoleon or 
his government : it vi^as a deep feeling of humanity, 
and a courageous protest against those political con- 
demnations of which he had been himself a victim. " I 
just come," said he, " from the drawing-rooms of some 
of our grand dignitaries. You cannot form an idea of 
the alarm and consternation that fill the minds of 
every one. At the Tuileries, nobody will go to bed to- 
night. They are convinced that your escape is the re- 
sidt of a great plot that is going to burst over them ; 
they see you already at the head of the old army march- 
ing against the Tuileries, and all Paris flying to arms. I 
should not be surprised if they stop the march of the 
foreign troops who are already preparing for their depar- 
lure. They talk of shutting the barriers. Think only 
of the terrible consequence of such a measure ! The 
milk-women will not be able to get into town to-morrow ! 
— there will be no milk for the old women's breakfasts ! 
and I listening to all these lamentations, — I who have 
you under lock and key !" 

He then examined with the most minute attention all 
my modest furniture, and what they had brought me. 
The chest of drawers were filled with his linen and 
clothes. " Open only half your shutters," he added, 
*' and let no more light in than just as much as you 
want to read : if you catch a cold, thrust your head 
when you cough into this closet." I had asked for some 
beer,, to quench the thirst that tormented me for the last 
month. " You cannot have any. We never drink beer, 
and some observation might be made on the circmn- 
stance. I have not forgot the history of M. de Mont- 
morin, who was discovered, and died on the scaffold, 
through having eaten a chicken, the bones of which had 
been thrown at the corner of the door. A neighbour, 
who knew that the woman who concealed him was too 
poor to buy chicken, guessed that she had in her house 
an outlaw, and informed against her. You shall have 
as much sugar and refreshing syrups as you may wish, 
but no beer." 

I passed the first pight of my liberty in walking up 
and down, and breathing the fresh air through the 
half-opened window, I could not see into the Rue du 
Bac, but I heard every thing distinctly, and the frequent 
passing of men on horseback sometimes startled me. 



226 MEMOIRS OF 

At last, in the morning, fatigue got the better of my 
anxiety, and I fell asleep. Two hours afterwards I was 
awakened by noise near me, and to ray great astonish- 
ment I saw in my room a little man, who was putting 
the furniture in order, sweeping and rubbing with great 
precaution. " Who are you ?" I asked — " Monsieur's 
valet-de-chambre." " But it was agreed with your mas- 
ter that nobody should come in my room." " They have 
altered their minds ; and if you please to get up, you 
may step into my chamber while I put every thing in 
order here." 

I got up, and lie led me into another room facing the^ 
one where I slept. When he was gone, I began to ex- 
^ amine the place I was in. It was much too well ftir- 
nished for a servant's room. The chimney was orna- 
mented with a clock, and china vases containing flowers; 
the bed was elegant. I opened a closet at the head of 
the bed, and found several articles of female attire. 
" What's the meaning of all this ? — Could the man be 
married, and his wife in the secret ? — How ! there is 
already a child and two servants entrusted with my 
fate, and that in this house ! — Is that very prudent ?" 
These reflections troubled me so much that my heart 
throbbed within me. I attempted to rise, but I fell on 
the floor in a deep swoon. The servant came back in 
about half an hour, and finding me insensible, he drag- 
ged me to my bed, where he had great trouble to bring 
me to myself " Do all you can," he said, " to keep 
up your spirits, for neither my master nor my mistress 
can come back until this evening. I shall come if I 
can. But, for heaven's sake ! do not fall sick, for how 
could we call in a doctor?" 

I was but too sensible of the truth of all this good 
man said to me, and added to myself, suppose I was to 
die, what would they do with my body ? I was soon 
diverted from these painftd reflections by the voice of a 
news- vender, who was crying something in the street. I 
could not well distinguish what he said, but I thought I 
heard ipy own name. I ran to the window, but the 
man was already too far for me to catch a word of what 
he uttered. I was obliged to wait until another went 
by, and four hours elapsed before the second came. This 
time it was a woman, whose shrill, sharp voice brought 
distinctly to my ear the words " Lavallette — householders 
— landlords." It was undoubtedly an ordinance pro- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 227 

clairaingf severe penalties on those who would give me 
refuge, (this did not make me uneasy,) but at the same 
time, offering rewards to those who would denounce 
me. And who could know whether among the servants 
of the house there might not be found one whom the 
love of lucre might incite to such an act ? I was very 
unjust: for Andre Joineau and his wife, whom they 
called Montet, were old domestics, whose fidelity and 
devotion were proof against all seduction. The woman, 
in particular, was a pretty protestant, remarkable for the 
good education she had received, and her elevated senti- 
timents. At last, about six o'clock in the evening, while 
I was still without light, a lady came in and seated her- 
self at the foot of my bed : she inquired in a low voice 
how I was. I endeavoured to tranquillize her, and re- 
peated my thanks for her kindness. " I am not Madame 
Bresson," she said; " I am het lady's maid; my mis- 
tress will certainly come home in an hour or two : but 
she has heard that you were not very well, and she 
wished to have some account of your health." Here is 
another witness ! said I to myself with a sigh. I pray 
to God that so many confidents may not spoil the busi- ^ 
ness ; but I have great fears. At last Madame Bresson 
came. I spoke to her of the cries I had heard in the 
street. " It is nothing," she replied ; " merely the re- 
newal of an old police ordinance of the year 1793, that 
makes every body laugh ; for the joy is incredible in 
Paris. Madame de Lavallette is extolled to the skies. 
Nothing can be more diverting than the observations of 
the women among the lower classes, and particularly in 
the markets. At the theatres, the slightest allusions are 
seized with enthusiasm ; and if government were to at- 
tempt to stifle these transports, — which, by the by, are 
something worse than disaffection, — ^their agents would 
no doubt be murdered. So you may rest easy in that 
respect. As for the confidents we have made around us, 
M. Bresson and myself have decided that it would be 
much safer to tell the whole business to the two servants 
who sleep facing you. Notwithstanding the greatest 
precautions, they might have heard you, being alarmed 
at the unusual noise, and have mentioned it to their 
comrades. It was much better to close their mouths by 
trusting them with our secret. They are married, and 
have lived with us during the last twenty years : they 
are a very worthy couple, and would most willingly ex- 



228 MEMOIRS OF 

pose their lives for us. We have moreover resolved that 
Stanislaus shall also be told, for he is your next-door 
neighbour. I will bring him to you this evening." She 
did so. He was a young man of twenty, very well in- 
formed, and whose address was agreeable. We soon be- 
came friends. He used to remain with me from eleven 
at night till two in the morning. I taught him to play 
chess ; and he brought me the journals and the news of 
Paris. 

CHAPTER XX VL 

I must now return to the Conciergerie. I had scarce- 
ly passed the outer door when the jailor entered my 
room, and, as I had foreseen, retired when he heard a 
noise behind the screen. But he returned about five 
minutes afterwards ; and not seeing any one, though the 
same noise was once more repeated, he took a fancy to 
remove one side of the screen. At the sight of Madame 
LavaJlette, he uttered a loud exclamation and ran to the 
door. She caught hold of his coat, and said to him — 
" Wait a minute ; let my husband get off !" — " You will 
ruin me, Madame," he said in a rage; and disengaging 
himself with so great an effort, that he left a piece of his 
coat in the hands of my wife, he went off calling aloud^ 
" The prisoner has escaped !" With those words he 
ran, tearing his hair, to the prefect of police. In an in- 
stant, all the turnkeys and gendarmes were sent about 
in all directions. Two of the former reached the sedan- 
chair, that was leisurely advancing on the quay. They 
opened it ; and finding no one in it but my daughter, 
they left it. Soon, however, the pursuit began in regu- 
lar order ; and during the whole night, the houses of my 
friends and acquaintances, and even of aUthe persons 
with whom my late situation in the world could have given 
me the least connection, were rigorously examined. The 
next day the barriers were shut, and the joy of the whole 
capital in witnessing the despair of the police was in- 
expressible. Madame Lavallette, a little easier after 
half an hour, began to get the better of her agitation : 
and she would have enjoyed her happiness, if the brutal 
turnkeys, who had left her door open, had not uttered 
against her the most horrible abuse, and assured her it 
would be impossible I should not be retaken in a very 
short time. 

The arrival of the procureur-general, Bellart, put an 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 229 

end to their abusive language. He sat himself gravely 
down to examine her, and addressed reproaches to her 
that were only ridiculous. By his order she was treat- 
ed with so much severity, that, in the state of health 
in which she then was, that usage became the chief 
cause of the disorder under which she laboured during 
twelve years, but from which she has at last recovered. 
They placed her in the chamber of Marshal Ney, where 
there was no chimney, but a German stove, the suiFo- 
cating heat of which made her suffer a great deal night 
and day. The window opened into the women's yard. 
To hear the noisy cry of those wretches during the 
whole day, and their vulgar and obscene language, 
was agony to so delicate a female. No person could 
come near her; even her maid was excluded, and she 
was attended by one of the female turnkeys. None of 
her letters could cross the threshold of the prison, nor 
could any communication from her friends reach her. 
She was for ever assailed with a thousand different 
terrors, especially in the night, when the sentries were 
relieved. She always imagined it was her husband 
they were bringing back. During more than five and 
twenty days and nights, she did not enjoy one moment's 
sleep. I was far from thinking she could be so un- 
happy. I had been told, with the view of comforting 
me, that she was lodged in the apartments of the lady 
of the prefect of police, treated with the greatest atten- 
tion and respect, and that she would soon obtain per- 
mission to return home. 

My daughter had returned to her convent in an ec- 
stasy of joy, and agitated with so strong an emotion 
that she could not explain in what manner she had 
contrived to save her father. But when, next day, the 
whole business was explained, the superior, who had 
just succeeded in obtaining the protection of the duch- 
ess of Angouleme for her house, was seized with alarm: 
my daughter was ordered to hold her tongue; and the 
nuns and some of the boarders shrunk away from her 
as if she had had the plague. Will it be believed when 
I add, that the parents of several of those boarders 
declared to the superior, that they would take their 
children home if Josephine Lavallette remained in the 
convent? So that a virtuous, generous action, which 
ought to have been presented as an example to be foU 

20 



230 MEMOIRS OF 

lowed by young persons, was through fear, personal 
interest, and perhaps also by meaner passions, regarded 
as a sort of crime and a cause of proscription. Six 
weeks afterwards, when Madame de Lavallette was set 
at liberty, she hastened to take her daughter from the 
convent. 

I passed the first ten days very quietly in my retreat, 
loaded with the most touching marks of friendship. 
My kind protectors sought, above all, to ease my mind. 
As long as J remained with them, I had, they said, no 
danger to fear. I might stay whole months in my 
hiding-place, without putting them to the least incon- 
venience. I was, however, not of the same opinion. 
M. Baudus, who came now and then to see me, could 
not dissemble that the activity of the police had not 
relaxed in the least: they were certain that I had not 
crossed the frontiers either at Strasburg or at Melz. 
General Excelmans, who was an outlaw, and had fled 
to Brussels, wrote to his wife, as a great secret, as soon 
as he had heard the history of my flight, that he had 
just supped with me. The anecdote was industriously 
circulated, but the police were not deceived by it. It 
was in Paris that they continued their searches. My 
friends were watched with a strictness inspired by the 
hope of a considerable reward. M. Berton de Vaux, 
then secretary general of the police, explained to M. 
Baudus the hidden cause of so obstinate a persecution. 
The ultra party accused the minister of having yielded 
to old connections of friendship with me, and to the 
wish of making a merit of my flight in the eyes of 
Louis Bonaparte and his whole family, and thus insur- 
ing himself a title of gratitude for some future con- 
tingency. These absurd charges might come to the 
ears of the king; and M. Decazes, fearing above all 
things to lose his credit, and perhaps to fall beneath the 
hatred to which he was exposed, augmented, from day 
to day, the activity of his inquiries. It was therefore 
necessary for me to fly; — but by what means? It was 
proposed that I should once more assume the garb of 
the other sex, and go secretly to a seaport, where smug- 
glers would undertake to convey me to England. I 
rejected that plan as quite extravagant. Neither did 
it please Baudus. A few days afterwards he came 
and told me that a Russian general offered to take 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 231 

charge of me; that I should be conducted to his inn 
during the night, and then concealed in the back of his 
carriage. Thus I might pass the barrier without any 
accident. But for that I first was to lay down eight 
thousand francs to pay his debts, and then take upon 
me all the expenses of the journey. The money was 
ready, but the plan miscarried. The Russian wanted 
to know the name of the outlaw ; and when he heard it, 
the fear of being sent to Siberia, in case I were dis- 
covered, made him draw back. After that, it was pro- 
posed that I should join a battalion of Bavarian soldiers 
that were going to leave France, by trusting my secret 
to the commander, who would undoubtedly be very glad 
to save a relation and firiend of Prince Eugene. This 
plan appeared unobjectionable to me. I too well knew 
the king of Bavaria, to fear that the officer would be 
punished ; and that excellent prince, to whom I mentioned 
the fact a few months afterwards, said to me with emo- 
tion, " I would have attached him to my person, if he 
had succeeded in saving you !" 

But I was also obliged to abandon this project : the 
police, having guessed that I might make resort to it, 
watched the troop with so much vigilance, and the offi- 
cers were so completely circumvented, that it became 
quite impossible to have any connection with them. At 
last, on the eighteenth day after I had left prison, Baudus 
came to me with a joyftQ coimtenance and embraced 
me, saying : " We shall at last succeed. Some English- 
men have offered to serve you, and I believe they pos- 
sess the means of doing so." These are the particulars 
of what had happened. The Princess de Vaudemont, un- 
easy at knowing me to be still in Paris, though she was 
not acquainted with the place of my concealment, looked 
about for persons who might help me away. She spoke 
of her anxiety to Madame de St. Aignan Caxilaincourt, 
one of the cleverest women born in France, whose kind- 
ness is inexhaustible, and whose courage is unbounded : 
she proposed to the princess to sound a young English- 
man, Mr. Bruce, who used to visit both their houses. 
Bruce, delighted at the idea of saving an unfortunate 
man who had escaped the scaffiald in so wonderful a 
manner, accepted with enthusiasm the proposal of the 
ladies, and went immediately to consult Sir Robert Wil- 
son on the subject. 

Sir Robert shared his young friend's enthusiasm. He 



232 MEMOIRS OF 

had failed in his attempt to save Marshal Ney, but he 
hoped to take his revenge in my case. He made quite 
a military expedition of the business ; and as Bruce was 
not in the army, it became necessary to find one or two 
officers, independent men, of liberal opinions, who might 
be disposed to play off a good trick on the government 
of the Bourbons. The road to Belgium, by Valencien- 
nes, was specially assigned to the English army, and it 
was therefore chosen for my escape. They asked no 
more than two days to finish their preparations. I 
received a very particular instruction concerning my 
dress : — no mustachios ; an English wig ; my beard 
shaved very clean, after the manner of the officers of 
that nation; a great-coat with buttons of the English 
Guards ; the regimentals and hat were to be given me at 
the instant of our departure. 

We held council, and, as it occurs in most cases, our 
first steps were wrong. It was looked upon as very 
necessary to get my coat made by the tailor of an 
English regiment ; — but he would want my measure ; 
raj friend Stanislaus took it with fine white paper ; and 
instead of the notches that the tailors are accustomed to 
make, he wrote on it, " Length of the forearm^ breadth 
of the breast^^^ &c. in a fine neat hand, and carried it 
boldly to the tailor of the regiment of the Guards. He 
quickly made the coat, however, — not without observing 
that the measure had not been taken by a tailor. M. 
Bresson had been to buy me another great-coat at an 
old clothes shop, and was naturally obliged to measure 
it on himself. He was however tall and thin ; so that in 
less than forty-eight hours I had two coats, neither of 
which could be of any service to me. I had no boots, 
and ail our speculations were useless in contriving to 
procure me a pair. I was forced to put on a pair be- 
longing to M. Bresson : they were at least two inches 
longer than my foot ; I could scarcely walk in them, 
and we all laughed much at the awkward figure I cut. 

On the 9th of January 181 6, at eight o'clock in the 
evening, I at last took leave of my kind friends. We 
were all very much affected, and particularly myself, 
who was leaving them with so little hope of ever seeing 
them again. I did however meet them again. I write 
this at twenty minutes' walk from a delightful country 
seat, on the right bank of the Seine, which they inhabit 
the whole year through. I see them every day : they 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 233 

are happy and independent. Fedora, their only daugh- 
ter, is married to M. de Montjoyeux, an amiable young- 
man. They have two pretty children ; and Fedora is 
one of the cleverest, handsomest, and most agreeable 
women I know. I take some pleasure in thinking that 
the happiness this family enjoy is partly the reward of 
their generous and courageous conduct towards me. 

After I had embraced them, Messrs. Bresson and 
Baudus brought me to the corner of the Rue de Grenelle, 
where I found again the faithful Chassenon, with his 
cabriolet. In going to my destination, we crossed the 
Place du Carrousel. I could not help smiling when I 
passed so near the numerous sentries stationed along 
the railings of the Tuileries, and when I saw the palace 
lighted up, and filled, as I had reason to imagine, with 
people enraged at not being able to seize me, while I 
was not more than fifty yards from them. 

We stopped at a house in the Rue du Helder, near 
tue Boulevard : there I took leave of my friend Chasse- 
non. As I walked slowly up the stairs, I was surprised 
at meeting Mademoiselle Dubourg. There would have 
been too much danger in our appearing to know each 
other. I afterwards learned that she was going to M. 
Dupuis, my reporting judge, who lived on the second 
floor of the house ; so that I was going to pass the night 
under the same roof with the magistrate who had during 
my trial examined me twice at length, and with great 
severity. This circumstance, however, by no means 
troubled me. M. Dupuis was an honourable man, to 
whom 1 had shown no reserve; — who was convinced of 
my innocence, and did not fear to declare it openly 
with an energy that might be hurtful to his fortune. 

When I reached the first floor, I saw before me a gen- 
tleman of tall stature, and noble features : — it was Sir 
Robert Wilson. He introduced me to two persons who 
were expecting me in the parlour : in one of the two I 
recognised Mr. Bruce, whom I had met sometimes dur- 
ing the preceding winter at the Duchess of St. Leu's. 
Mr. Hutchinson,* to whom the apartments belonged, 



* Captain Hutchinson, who makes so advantageous a figure in 
this narrative, from his disinterested exertions, received the appel- 
lation of Lavaliette Hutchinson from his friends. His father dying 
j'oung, he had the singular good fortune of becoming the heir of 
two uncles, the Earl of Donoughmore, and Lord Hutchinson— the 
I'ormer nobleman having his title by inheritance—the latter having 
20* 



234 MEMOIRS OP 

was a captain in the English Guards. He received me 
in a friendly manner. We seated ourselves round a 
bowl of punch. Our conversation turned on public af- 
fairs, and we talked with as much ease and freedom as 
if we had been together in London. These gentlemen 
did not appear to entertain the least uneasiness in re- 
spect to our next day's journey ; and at last, after sitting 
for about an hour. Sir Robert and Mr. Bruce rose, and 
the former shaking hands with me, said : — " Be up to- 
morrow by six o'clock, and be very careful about your 
dress. You will find here the coat of a captain in the 
Guards, which you must put on. At eight o'clock pre- 
cisely, I shall expect you at the door." — " As for me," 
said Bruce, " I am going to spend three days at the 
country-seat of the Princess de la Moskowa ; for you 
will not want me any longer. My wishes go along with 
you, and I shall receive accounts from you by my 
friends." 

When they were gone, Mr. Hutchinson offered me his 
bed ; but I had no desire to sleep, and I laid myself down 
on a sofa. While my host was lying in a profound 
sleep, I looked about the apartments to find a corner 
where I might conceal myself, in case the police should 
come and pay us a visit ; but it was very scantily fiir- 
nished, and consisted only of two rooms and a closet. It 
would have been impossible to elude, even for a quarter 
of an hour, the most superficial search. I opened the 
window, to ascertain the distance I was from the street : 
that distance was too considerable for me to leap. I 
could not hope to save myself after my fall, and still too 
near the ground for me to be killed at once. For- 
tunately, I recollected the pistols M. de Chassenon had 
given me. I took one of them in my hands, and exam^ 
ined it with care. I placed it under my pillow, and was 
as easy after that, as if I had had in my possession the 
surest talisman. I soon fell asleep; but about one 
o'clock in the morning I was awakened by a great noise, 
and a very animated conversation that was taking place 

been so created after the battle of the Nile, for his services on that 
occasion. They both died without issue, and Captain Hutchinson 
has inherited the property of both, together with the Earldom of 
Donoughmore, near the town of Clonmel, Ireland, where he now 
resides — a pattern of liberal hospitality. In addition to his other 
splendid acquisitions, the Earl of Donoughmore is a British peer, 
which of course gives him a seat in the House of Lords. 

JVote of the American Editor. 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 235 

at the carriage door of the house. By listening, I dis- 
covered that somebody wanted to get in. I immediately 
awoke my companion, and said, " I believe I am disco- 
vered. Some person wishes to get into the house." Mr. 
Hutchinson went out of the apartment in the calmest 
manner, and in about five minutes, which appeared hor- 
ribly long to me, he came back saying, " It is only a 
dispute between the portress, and a French officer who 
lives on the third floor. She is complaining that he 
comes home too late. So let us go to sleep again with- 
out fear." 

At last, after having counted every hour of the night, 
I heard six o'clock strike : I immediately set about my 
toilet, and at eight o'clock precisely I found Sir Robert 
Wilson in the street, dressed in his full regimentals, and 
seated in a pretty gig. Mr. Hutchinson soon appeared 
also on horseback, and we set off. The weather was 
beautiful ; all the shops were open, every body in the 
streets, and by a singular coincidence, they were just at 
that moment putting up in the Place de Greve the gib- 
bet, which, according to custom, is used to execute in 
effigy, persons declared guilty in contumacy. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

We entered the Rue de Clichy, which leads to the bar- 
rier of the same name. As I had on the regimentals 
and cap of the guards, the English soldiers we met 
saluted us in the military manner. Two officers we 
saw on the road appeared very much surprised at seeing 
with Sir Robert one of their comrades with whom they 
were unacquainted; but Mr. Hutchinson went up to 
them, and talked to them while we were approaching 
the barrier. To the right and to the left were two guard- 
houses — the one English, and the other French. The 
soldiers drew up under arms. Fortunately the French 
were National Guards, and it was not probable they 
could know me, as they did not belong to my quarter of 
the town. We crossed the barrier with a slow step; 
and when we were out, I thanked Sir Robert with as 
much gratitude as if we had crossed the barriers of the 
kingdom. We went on thus to the village of La Cha- 
pelle. There we were obliged to take another horse, to 
be able to go to Compiegne. This horse had been 
baited at a large inn. When we approached the house, 
we perceived four gendarmes standing in front of the 



236 MEMOIRS OF 

large door. Sir Robert went up to them : they sepa- 
rated, that we might pass ; and, to prevent them from 
paying attention to us, Mr. Hutchinson began a con- 
versation with them. His inquiries were chiefly di- 
rected to the number of stables and the quantity of fo- 
rage and lodgings that were to be found in the village ; 
from all which they concluded that Enghsh troops were 
expected, and one of them invited the English captain 
to accompajiy him to the mayor. " Not at present," he 
answered : " I am going forward to meet the wagons, 
and in two hours I shall be back." The conversation 
could not last very long with an Englishman who knew 
but little of our language. But the horse was quickly 
changed, and we had the satisfaction, on going away, to 
exchange salutes with the gendarmes. I then learned 
that the man who had broug)it us thus far, belonged to 
M. Auguste de St. Aignan. On the road we met with 
several gendarmes in pursuit of malefactors, or bearing 
military correspondence. They all fixed their eyes on 
us without suspecting any thing. I had accustomed 
myself, on seeing them, to shut my eyes, but with the 
precaution of placing my hand on my pistol — fully re- 
solved, if I should be recognised and apprehended, to 
blow my brains out ; for it would have been too great a 
stupidity to suffer myself to be brought back to Paris. 

We arrived at last at Gompiegne. At the entrance of 
the suburb stood a non-commissioned Enghsh officer, 
who, on seeing his .general, tiirned to the right and 
marched with gravity tlirough several small streets, un- 
til he stopped at a small house in a very lonely part of 
the town. There we fomad an officer who received us 
very well, and we waited for Sir Robert's carriage, 
which Mr. Wallis was to bring fi'om Paris for him. 
That officer had ordered post-horses Ibr General Wallis, 
brother-in-law to Sir Robert Wilson, who travelled under 
his name. Mr. Wallis arrived at about six o'clock; 
after having been followed a great part of the way by 
the gendarmes. We had not an instant to lose : the car- 
riage advanced rapidly. We experienced a great delay 
at Conde, in getting through the town, but it was during 
the night. At last, next morning, at seven o'clock, we 
arrived at Valenciennes, the last French city on that 
frontier. I was beginning to feel more easy, when the 
postmaster told us to go and have our passports exam- 
ined by the captain of the gendarmerie. " You forgot, 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 237 

I suppose, to read who we were," said Sir Robert calmly ; 
" let the captain come here, if he chooses to see us." 
The postmaster felt how wrong he had acted ; and taking 
our passports, he went himself to get them signed. As 
it was very long before he came back, I began to be tor- 
mented by a most horrible anxiety. Was I going to 
be wrecked in the harbour ? Suppose the officer of gen- 
darmes were to come himself to verify the signatures 
and to apprehend me? Fortunately the weather was 
very cold, it was scarcely daylight, and the officer signed 
the passports without rising from his bed. We got out 
of the gate. On the glacis, an officer of the preventive 
service wanted to see whether we were in order ; but 
having satisfied his curiosity, we went on and stopped 
no more. We flew along the beautiful Brussels road. 
From time to time I looked through the back window, 
to see whether we were not pursued. My impatience 
augmented with every turn of the wheels. The pos- 
tilions showed us at a distance a large house, that was 
the Belgian custom-house : I fixed my eyes on that edi- 
fice, and it seemed to me as if it remained always equal- 
ly far off. I imagined that the postilion did not get on : 
I was ashamed of my impatience, but it was impossible 
for me to curb it. At last we reached the frontier : we 
were on the Belgian territories — I was saved ! I press- 
ed the hands of Sir Robert, and expressed to him, with a 
deep emotion, the extent of my gratitude. But he, keep- 
ing up his gravity, only smiled, without answering me. 
About half an hour afterwards he turned to me, and said 
in the most serious tone possible : " Now, pray tell me, 
my dear friend, why did you not like to be guillotined ?" 
I stared at him with astonishment, and made no reply. 
" Yes," he continued ; " they say that you had solicited, 
as a favour, that you might be shot !" — " It is very true. 
When a man is guillotined, they put him in a cart, with 
his hands bound behind his back ; and when he is on the 
scaffold, they tie him fast to a plank, which they lower 
to let it slip thus xmder the knife." — " Ah ! I understand : 
you did not like to have your throat cut like a calfP^ 

We arrived at Mons at about three o'clock in the 
afternoon, and we stopped at the best inn. While din- 
ner was preparing, I wrote a few letters, of which Sir 
Robert was kind enough to take charge ; and after 
having gone with me to buy some things I wanted, 
and having given me two letters, one for the King of 



238 MEMOIRS OP 

Prussia and the other for Mr. Lamb, the English resi- 
dent in Munich, we separated, — he to return to Paris, 
and I to go farther into Germany and try to reach Ba- 
varia. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

I remained, however, the night at Mons. Next day 
I could not go any farther than Namur, I travelled 
under the name of a Colonel Losack, sent by the Duke 
of Wellington on a mission to Munich and Vienna. I 
had purchased at Mons a bad cabriolet; I had no ser- 
vant ; and the weather was so severe, and my health 
so feeble, that I could not travel above twenty leagues 
a day. It was very dangerous for me to remain so 
long on the road. The description of my person had 
been sent everywhere about: I might meet with Eng- 
lishmen, and my passport, great-coat, and buttons with 
the arms of England, would all betray me, as I could 
not speak the language. I arrived, however, without 
any accident at Worms. I knew enough German to 
serve my purpose, and I hastened to read the papers. 
How great was my consternation when I read in the 
gazette that Madame de Lavallette remained in the 
Conciergerie, and that Sir Robert Wilson and his two 
friends had been apprehended. 

The general had brought with us to Mons a young 
servant who could not speak French. When he re- 
turned, the spies who were on the look-out for me, ob- 
served in the yard of the hotel where he lived his 
coach covered with mud. They inquired of the por- 
tress, who told them that the general had just come 
home from a journey, on which he had been absent 
only three days. The police suspected him : the young 
servant was seduced by one of the spies, who ques- 
tioned him artfully, and he confessed that his master 
had been to Mons with an officer of the Guards who 
could not speak a word of English. The description 
of my person given by the young man put the police 
on the track ; but proofs were necessary. It was this 
servant who used to carry the correspondence of Sir 
Robert Wilson to the English embassy. They promis- 
ed him money if he would bring his despatches to the 
Prefect of Police. He did not fail to do so. The first 
letter they opened was directed to the Earl Grey. The 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 239 

history of our journey was related in it, with all its 
details. Having gained possession of this document, 
the police had the three Englishmen apprehended. 

The perusal of the journals grieved me beyond ex- 
pression. I took a resolution to go to Russia, to soli- 
cit from the Emperor Alexander that my wife and 
friends might be set at liberty ; and I flew to Manheim 
to'get a letter from the Grand-duchess of Baden, first 
cousin to my wife. She was out of town, and from 
what 1 learned from my landlord, 1 should be forced 
to keep up a most severe incognito. The grand-duke 
refused the passage through his territories to the out- 
laws who came from France ; not so much, however, 
out of ill-will towards them, as for fear of compromi- 
sing himself with the French Government. When I 
left Manheim, I wrote nevertheless to the grand- 
duchess, and continued my journey, like a madman, 
through Wirtemberg, where I was nearly arrested at 
Stuttgard. The king who at that time occupied the 
throne would not have failed to make me acquainted 
with his dungeons. I succeeded at last in passing 
through Ulm, and found myself in safety in the Bava- 
rian territory. 

When the king of Bavaria heard of my escape from 
the Conciergerie, he said to Prince Eugene — " As for 
him, he may come to me; 1 will take care of him." I 
went in consequence to Munich, and wrote a note to 
Baron d'Arnay, Secretary to the Prince, to beg he 
would come to see me. He came, but after having 
delivered my note to the prince, vi'ho dined that day 
with the king. The news was communicated to his 
majesty after dinner. They reckoned no longer upon 
me, thinking me gone to America. My arrival surpri- 
sed the king, who d*d not wish to have disagreeable 
discussions with France. After a moment's reflection, 
he said : " He cannot remain here : not even under a 
feigned name. That ferret, the Duke d'Alberg, is at 
Munich, and would soon find him out. Remain two 
days with him, and let him set oft" the third for Frays- 
eingen. He will be in safety there." That small town 
is surrounded with woods ; the cold was severe ; but I 
felt so happy at being in liberty, that 1 could not bear 
to remain in my room, and went out ten times a-day 
to stroll about in the forest, notwithstanding the snow 



240 MEMOIRS OP 

and ice. My strange manners surprised the inhabit- 
ants; and a French emigrant, who lived at Munich^ 
came to my abode, soon discovered who I was, and 
carried the news to the capital. I was in consequence 
obliged to leave my retreat, and the king was kind 
enough to send me to Starnberg, a wretched village, 
situated near the lake of that name. I was uncom- 
fortable there ; but spring was approaching. The for- 
ests in that part of the country are beautiful, and of 
immense extent ; while the banks of the lake are lined 
with delightful country-seats. Prince Eugene used to 
come twice a week to the house of a gamekeeper, two 
leagues from Munich, where I went to meet him. He 
brought me newspapers and books, and acquainted me 
with all that was going forward. I thus reached the 
month of May ; but I was again obliged to leave 
Starnberg. I had been lecognized ; and the Prince 
Royal, who learned that I resided in that remote cor- 
ner of the country, remonstrated with his father on 
my stay in Bavaria, and the difficulties into which he 
might get involved with France, in case they should 
learn in Paris that he had given me a retreat. The 
king denied my being in his states ; but at the same 
time he sent me an order to retire to the farther end 
of the lake. By the advice of Prince Eugene, I went 
and concealed myself in the house of a gardener, four 
leagues farther still. " You will be more comfortable 
there," said the prince: " in about a fortnight, I shall 
come to reside in the royal seat that is no more than 
a league from your new abode. We shall be able to 
see each other every day." He soon came there with 
his family, and I used to go every morning to the cas- 
tle, and did not go home till the evening. The friend- 
ly reception I met with from Princess Augusta, the 
kind attentions bestowed on me by all the persons that 
surrounded her, contributed greatly to alleviate my 
grief and restore my health. The prince said to me 
one day — "The king is accustomed annually to spend 
one day in this place. When I went yesterday to take 
his orders on the subject, he accepted my invitation, 
but on condition that you would come and dine with 
him." 

I went. His majesty received me with open arms. 
He was accompanied by some officers of his house- 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 241 

iiold, and among others by Count Charles Von Reich- 
berg, who told us that he had left Paris eight days af- 
ter my escape from prison. Though the gendarmes 
had been present at his departure, and had examined 
his passport with a great deal of care, he was never- 
theless stopped on the Boulevard, and obliged, as well 
as his two travelling companions, to get out of their 
carriage, that the descriptions of their persons might 
be verified, and that it might be ascertained that I 
was not among them. TJie king was very merry, and 
took a great deal of pleasure at seeing me where I 
was, after having been exposed to so many dangers. 
During the five hours that he remained with the 
prince, he never ceased loading me with the most deli- 
cate attentions. The pains he perpetually took to 
bring to my mind his former stay in Paris, when 1 had 
the honor of paying my court to him ; the slight ser- 
vice I had rendered to him in my quality of postmas- 
ter-general, and the attachment Vi^ith which the em- 
peror had honored me, were meant to show the per- 
sons who surrounded him, that I was under his espe- 
cial protection, and that my misfortunes augmented 
the interest he vouchsafed to express for me. When 
he was ready to go, he came up to me, and, pressing 
my hand, said, — "Remain at peace in my country, 
live among your friends, and reckon upon my attach- 
ment and protection.-' 

I soon obtained permission to settle in Munich un- 
der a feigned name. I went every night to the thea- 
tre ; and when the play was over, I finished the even- 
ing with the prince, who lived en famille: but it was 
quickly known in Paris. The Duke de Richelieu took 
it amiss, and a formal demand was transmitted to Mu- 
nich, to send me away from Bavaria. Count d'Erlon, 
who lived in the outskirts of the city, was comprehend- 
ed in the sentence of proscription, though he did not 
live there under his own name. The cabinet of Mu- 
nich replied to that of Paris, that they knew nobody 
in Bavaria that bore our names ; but, at the same 
time, the king proposed to us to take refuge in Silesia, 
where he possessed several castles, as Duke of Deux 
Ponts. The measure was a dangerous one : could the 
king of Bavaria's protection follow, and defend me at 
so great a distance, and in the heart of a Prussian 
21 



242 MEMOIRS OF 

province ? Should I not be obliged to go from thence 
to Russia, whither I felt they wanted to drive me ? I 
answered, by begging he would rather shut me up in 
some prison in Bavaria. Fortunately, the diplomatic 
correspondence relaxed by degrees on that subject; 
Count d'Erlon remained at his country-seat, and I es- 
caped by going to Eichstadt, in the principality of 
Prince Eugene, and afterwards to Augsburg, to his sis- 
ter, the Duchess of St. Leu. I passed with her the last 
year of my banishment : the attentions and kindness 
she showed me might have made me perhaps forget 
France if my dearest affections had not made life in- 
tolerable far from my country. 

Madame de Lavallette had got out of prison after 
six weeks ill-usage. Deep melancholy and perpetual 
alarm inspired her with a great disgust for society, and 
threw her mind into such a state, that she was said to 
suffer from mental derangement. Though my daugh- 
ter was at that time no more than fifteen years old, 
her mother hastened to estublish her, that she might 
enjoy the protection of a husband, when the state of 
her own health would not permit her to keep a watch- 
ful eye over her. She wrote to me : " I feel it is high 
time to shelter my daughter from our misfortunes." 
She fixed her choice on M. de Forget, the son of a gen- 
tleman of Auvergne, whose name had been long re- 
spected. He had been Auditor to the Council of State. 
I had observed in him a great deal of talent, and an 
excellent heart. I gave my consent, and my daughter 
is now happy and honored in her province. 

Finally, after six years of outlawry, the gates of 
France were again opened for me. Before my depar- 
ture, I obtained an audience of the King of Bavaria. 
He pressed me in his arms with emotion, and said, — 
" I embrace M. Cossar — (that was the name under 
which I went in Germany) — but I require of M. de 
Lavallette to come and thank me within two years. I 
am growing old : he must not tarry too long." My 
political situation in France was very uncomfortable, 
and the severity of the government too great, to have 
permitted me to fulfil the engagement the king had 
made me take, and which was so consonant to the 
wishes of my grateful heart. Death has since snatch- 
ed him from his subjects, who adored him, and who 



COUNT LAVALLETTE. 243 

si«ver will forget him whom they were wont to call 
*' the good king." 

I left Prince Eugene in the prime of his life, enjoy- 
ing excellent health, in the most happy situation, be- 
loved by the king as if he had been his son, surround- 
ed by a numerous and charming family, loaded with 
all the gifts of fortune, of whom he had nothing more 
to demand, his name shining with bright and unsulli- 
ed glory. He had a fall from a sledge in 1816 ; in con- 
sequence of which, a gathering took place, they say, 
in his head. The pain being very slight, he neglected 
the necessary remedies. Seven or eight weeks after- 
wards, the gathering appeared with symptoms which 
the physicians did not comprehend ; and he died at 
the age of forty-four, leaving a disconsolate widow 
and children, whose education was not yet finished, 
but also a reputation for courage, wisdom, and gene- 
rosity that neither France, Italy, nor Bavaria will ever 
forget. 

When I came back to France, I was obliged to hav 
my letters of pardon registered. This ceremony, which 
might have become painful to my feelings, was mana- 
ged by the magistrates at Colmar with a discretion for 
which I shall always be thankful. The Advocate-Gen- 
eral, M. Rossec, only said — " He had been sentenced 
for conduct which, from day to day, appears less seri- 
ous." I came to Paris, where I fixed my abode, and 
lived in retirement, forgotten by most of my former 
friends, and also by the police, who might have made 
my life very uncomfortable. 

At last, the health of Madame de Lavallette reco- 
vered sufficiently to permit me te take her home. A 
deep melancholy throws her frequently into fits of ab- 
stractedness; but she is always equally mild, amiable, 
and good. We pass the summer in a retired country, 
house, where she seems to enjoy herself. I have pre- 
served ray independence, the first of all mortal riches, 
without pension, salary, or gratuity of any sort, after 
a long life, consecrated to the service of my country, 
offering up for her liberty prayers that will perhaps 
never be fulfilled, and living with the recollections of a 
great period and a great man. 

THE END. 



I 

hei 
en" 



i# 



